| By Author | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Title | [ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z | Other Symbols ] |
| By Language |
|
Download this book: [ ASCII | HTML | PDF ] Look for this book on Amazon Tweet |
Title: Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Second Annual Meeting - Ithaca, New York, December 14 and 15, 1911
Author: Northern Nut Growers Association [Editor]
Language: English
As this book started as an ASCII text book there are no pictures available.
*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Second Annual Meeting - Ithaca, New York, December 14 and 15, 1911" ***
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|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
SECOND ANNUAL MEETING
ITHACA, NEW YORK
DECEMBER 14 AND 15, 1911
PRESS OF THE ITHACA JOURNAL
ITHACA, NEW YORK
1912
+--------------------------------------------+
|Transcribers' note: |
| |
|The errors listed below have been corrected.|
+--------------------------------------------+
Errata
Page 3, under "Officers" transpose addresses of President and
Vice-President.
Page 23, line 5, for "Pennsylvania" read "Louisiana."
Page 103, line 2, for "Siebold" read "Nebo."
[Illustration: MR. HENRY HALES OF RIDGEWOOD, NEW JERSEY _And the
Original Hales' Paper Shell Hickory Tree_]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Officers and Committees of the Association 3
Members of the Association 4
Constitution and Rules of the Association 6
Proceedings of the meeting held at Ithaca, New York,
Dec. 14th and 15th, 1911 7
Address of Welcome by Professor Craig 7
Secretary's Report of the Meeting for Organization held in New York
Nov. 17th, 1910 8
Secretary-Treasurers' Report for the Year 10
Discussion on Juglans Mandshurica 12
President's Address. The Hickories, Robert T. Morris, M. D. 14
Discussion 21
The Chestnut Bark Disease. J. Franklin Collins, Washington, D. C. 37
Discussion 43
Nut Growing in the Northern States. C. A. Reed, Washington, D. C. 49
Discussion 56
The Indiana Pecan. T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C. 62
Discussion 74
Executive Session 75
The Bench Root-Grafting of Persian Walnuts and Pecans.
C. P. Close, Washington, D. C. 79
Discussion 80
The Hales' Paper Shell Hickory. Henry Hales, Ridgewood, New Jersey 85
Discussion 86
Nut Promotions. W. C. Deming, M. D., New York 89
Some Facts Concerning Pecan Trees for Planting in the North.
W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Virginia 92
Discussion 95
The Scolytus Beetle. Prof. G. W. Herrick, Ithaca, New York 96
Discussion 99
The Persian Walnut in California. Prof. E. R. Lake,
Washington, D. C. 100
Discussion 102
Is There a Future for Juglans Regia and Hicoria Pecan in New York
and New England? Prof. John Craig, Ithaca, N. Y. 106
Resolutions and Executive Session 109
Exhibits 110
Appendix 111
Miscellaneous Notes 111
Report of Committee on Exhibits 111
Prize Nuts 112
Report of the Committee on the Nomenclature of Juglans
Mandshurica and the Shellbark Hickories 114
The Hickory Bark Borer. Circular and Correspondence 116
Resolutions of the Pennsylvania Conference on the Chestnut-tree
Bark Disease 122
OFFICERS
President Robert T. Morris New York
Vice-President T. P. Littlepage Indiana
Secretary and Treasurer W. C. Deming Westchester, New York City
COMMITTEES
_Executive_
John Craig
C. A. Reed
W. N. Roper
And the Officers
_On Promising Seedlings_
T. P. Littlepage
C. A. Reed
W. C. Deming
_On Hybrids_
R. T. Morris
Henry Hicks
C. P. Close
_On Membership_
W. C. Deming
E. R. Lake
J. G. Rush
W. N. Roper
_On Nomenclature_
John Craig
R. T. Morris
W. C. Deming
_On Press and Publication_
W. N. Roper
T. P. Littlepage
W. C. Deming
STATE VICE-PRESIDENTS
Connecticut Charles H. Plump West Redding
Florida H. Harold Hume Glen St. Mary
Georgia G. C. Schempp, Jr. Albany, Route 3
Illinois Dr. F. S. Crocker Chicago
Indiana R. L. McCoy Lake, Spencer Co.
Louisiana J. F. Jones Jeanerette
Maryland C. P. Close Washington, D. C.
Massachusetts Bernhard Hoffman Stockbridge
Minnesota C. A. Van Duzee St. Paul
New Jersey A. B. Malcomson West Orange
New York A. C. Pomeroy Lockport
Ohio J. H. Dayton Painesville
Panama B. F. Womack Canal Zone
Pennsylvania J. G. Rush West Willow
Virginia W. N. Roper Petersburg
MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS' ASSOCIATION
Abbott, Frederick B., 419 9th St., Brooklyn, N.Y.
Barron, Leonard, Editor The Garden Magazine, Garden City, L.I. Benner,
Charles, 100 Broadway, New York City.
Button, Herbert, Bonnie Brook Farm, Cazenovia, N.Y.
Chute, Miss Bessie, 1024 University Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, Minn.
Clendenin, Rev. Dr. F. M., Westchester, New York City.
Close, Prof. C. P., Expert in Fruit Identification, U. S. Dept. of
Agriculture, Washington, D. C.
Coleman, H. H., the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., Newark, N.J.
Craig, Prof. John, New York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N.Y.
Crocker, Dr. F. S., Columbus Memorial Building, Chicago, Ill.
Dayton, J. H., Painesville, Ohio. Representing the Storrs & Harrison
Company.
Deming, Dr. N. L., Litchfield, Conn.
Deming, Dr. W. C., Westchester, New York City.
Deming, Mrs. W. C., Georgetown, Conn.
Dennis, Dr. Frank L., The Colchester, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
*Hales, Henry, Ridgewood, N.J.
Hicks, Henry, Westbury Station, L.I.
Hoffman, Bernhard, Stockbridge, Mass.
Holden, E. B., Hilton, N.Y.
Holmes, J. A., 127 Eddy St., Ithaca, N.Y.
Hume, H. Harold, Glen St. Mary, Fla.
Hungerford, Newman, 45 Prospect St., Hartford, Conn.
+Huntington, A. M., 15 W. 81st St., New York City.
James, Dr. W. B., 17 W. 54th St., New York City.
Jessup, Miss Maud M., 440 (40) Thomas St., Grand Rapids, Mich.
+Jones, J. F., Jeanerette, La.
Kiefer, Louis W., 901 N. Elm St., Henderson, Ky.
Lake, Prof. E. R., Asst. Pomologist, Dept. of Agric., Washington, D.C.
Littlepage, T. P., Union Trust Building, Washington, D.C.
Lovett, Mrs. Joseph L., Emilie, Bucks Co., Pa.
McCoy, R. L., Ohio Valley Forest Nursery, Lake, Spencer Co., Ind.
Malcomson, A. B., 132 Nassau St., New York City.
Mayo, E. S., Rochester, N.Y. Representing Glen Brothers.
Meehan, S. Mendelson, Germantown, Phila., Pa. Representing Thomas Meehan
and Sons.
Miller, Mrs. E. B., Enid, Oklahoma, R. 7, Box 47-1/2.
Miller, Mrs. Seaman, c/o Mr. Seaman Miller, 2 Rector St., N.Y. City.
Morris, Dr. Robert T., 616 Madison Ave., New York City.
Moses, Theodore W., Harvard Club, 27 W. 44th St., New York City.
Pierson, Miss A. Elizabeth, Cromwell, Conn.
Plump, Chas. H., West Redding, Conn.
Pomeroy, A. C., Lockport, N.Y.
Potter, Hon. W. O., Marion, Ill.
Reed, C. A., Div. of Pomology, U.S. Dept. of Agric., Washington, D.C.
Riehl. E. A., Alton, Ill.
Roper, Wm. N., Arrowfield Nursery Co., Petersburg, Va.
Rose, Wm. J., 413 Market St., Harrisburg, Pa.
Rush. J. G., West Willow, Pa.
Sensenig, Wayne.
Schempp, G. C., Jr., Route 3, Albany, Ga.
Shoemaker, Seth W., Agric. Ed. Int. Corresp. Schools, Scranton, Pa.
Smith, Goldwin, Highland Creek, Ontario, Canada.
Smith, Percival P., 108 S. La Salle St., Chicago, Ill.
Tuckerman, Bayard, 118 E. 37th St., New York City.
Van Duzee, Col. C. A., St. Paul, Minn.
Walter, Dr. Harry, The Chalfonte, Atlantic City, N. J.
Wentink, Frank, 75 Grove St., Passaic, N. J.
Williams, Dr. Charles Mallory, 48 E. 49th St., New York City.
Williams, Harrison, Erie R. R. Co., 50 Church St., New York City.
+Wissmann, Mrs. P. deR., 707 Fifth Ave., New York City.
Womack, B. F., Ancon Canal Zone, Panama.
*Honorary member.
+Life member.
CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION.
_Name._ The society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS
ASSOCIATION.
_Object._ The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their
products and their culture.
_Membership._ Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who
desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence
or nationality, subject to the approval of the committee on membership.
_Officers._ There shall be a president, a vice-president, and a
secretary-treasurer; an executive committee of five persons, of which
the president, vice-president and secretary shall be members; and a
state vice-president from each state represented in the membership of
the association.
_Election of Officers._ A committee of five members shall be elected at
the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for the
subsequent year.
_Meetings._ The place and time of the annual meeting shall be selected
by the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made
at this time, the executive committee shall choose the place and time
for the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may
seem desirable may be called by the president and executive committee.
_Fees._ The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former
shall be two dollars, the latter twenty dollars.
_Discipline._ The committee on membership may make recommendations to
the association as to the discipline or expulsion of any member.
_Committees._ The association shall appoint standing committees of three
members each to consider and report on the following topics at each
annual meeting: first, on promising seedlings; second, on nomenclature;
third, on hybrids; fourth, on membership; fifth, on press and
publication.
The Northern Nut Growers Association
SECOND ANNUAL MEETING
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1911, 10 A. M.
ROOM 191, NEW YORK STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE, ITHACA, NEW YORK.
President Morris: The meeting is called to order and I will first ask
Professor Craig to make a few remarks on behalf of the College Director
and the President of the University.
Professor Craig: It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome the
representatives of the Northern Nut Growers' Association in this, their
second annual meeting, to the New York State College of Agriculture. I
regret exceedingly that Director Bailey, who has been avoiding out of
state engagements this winter quite generally, made one about two months
ago for this day, about a thousand miles away, which makes it absolutely
impossible for him to be with us. He regretted this very much, and asked
me particularly to impress upon you the idea that he was most anxious
that this Association should meet here, and that all the facilities of
the College of Agriculture should be placed at your disposal, for the
purpose of making your meeting as profitable and as pleasant as
possible.
President Schurman, whose time at this period of the year is much
monopolized and who is by previous engagements occupied very completely
this morning, has asked me to say to you that he hoped to be able to
come over and join us informally some time during the afternoon. I wish
then to impress the thought that, although the official representatives
of the University and College are not with us, they have not forgotten
this meeting. As a member of the Executive Committee, in charge of the
sessions, I have made up a tentative program for this morning for the
purpose of starting the meeting off; and as the President will
undoubtedly tell you later on, this program is subject to revision and
change according to the convenience of the members. It is proposed to
occupy this morning with regular program subjects, and it has been
suggested that this afternoon we take a couple of hours' leisure which
we may use in examining the exhibits or in viewing the University, if
you care to consider that an exhibit worth while. It will be our
pleasure to furnish guides for those who desire to make an excursion
around and through the University buildings.
Let me say in conclusion that I hope you will make use of the
opportunities and facilities that are at your full disposal. The
Department of Horticulture is located on the second floor. I would like
you to make that office your headquarters, and make use of our clerical
force, and such facilities as are available, to the fullest measure
possible, so that your visit will be pleasant, as I am sure it will be
profitable.
President Morris: The next order of business will be the report from the
Secretary-Treasurer, and the report of the last meeting.
* * * * *
Doctor Deming: A meeting for organization of Northern Nut Growers was
held, on the invitation of Dr. N. L. Britton, at the Botanical Museum in
Bronx Park, New York City, on Nov. 17th, 1910.
Dr. Britton called the meeting to order, stated its purpose and
presented specimens.
Those present were:
Dr. N. L. Britton, Director N. Y. Botanic Gardens.
Dr. Robert T. Morris, 616 Madison Ave., New York City.
Prof. John Craig, of Cornell University.
Mr. T. P. Littlepage, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C.
Mr. A. B. Malcomson, Orange, N. J.
Mr. Henry Hales, Ridgewood, N. J.
Mrs. Joseph L. Lovett, Emilie, Bucks County, Pa.
Mrs. Yardly (with Mrs. Lovett).
Dr. Geo. Knapp, (at the request of Simpson Bros., Vincennes, Ind.) 21
Claremont Ave., New York City.
Mr. C. A. Schwartze, 92 Stagg St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
Mr. Nash, of the Botanical Museum.
Dr. W. C. Deming, Westchester, New York City.
On the retirement of Dr. Britton Dr. Deming acted as temporary chairman
and read a number of letters from persons interested in nut culture
encouraging the formation of an association.
The chairman appointed Prof. Craig, Dr. Morris and Mr. Littlepage a
committee to draw up a tentative constitution or set of working rules
until permanent organization could be effected. The committee made the
following report which was adopted with the understanding that the
executive committee should consider the question of constitution and
by-laws and report at the next regular meeting.
* * * * *
_Name._ The society shall be known as the NORTHERN NUT GROWERS
ASSOCIATION.
_Object._ The promotion of interest in nut-producing plants, their
products and their culture.
_Membership._ Membership in the society shall be open to all persons who
desire to further nut culture, without reference to place of residence
or nationality.
_Officers._ There shall be a president, a vice-president, a
secretary-treasurer and an executive committee of five persons, of which
latter the president and secretary shall be members.
_Meetings._ The association shall hold an annual meeting on or about
Nov. 15 and such other special meetings as may seem desirable, these to
be called by the president and executive committee.
_Fees._ The fees shall be of two kinds, annual and life. The former
shall be $2.00, the latter $20.00.
In addition to the large number of letters showing a wide spread
interest in nut growing, communications of especial interest were
received from Prof. W. N. Hutt, State Horticulturist of North Carolina,
Mr. W. N. Roper, former editor of the American Fruit and Nut Journal,
and from Mr. Henry Hicks of Westbury, Long Island.
The election of officers resulted as follows:
President--Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York City.
Vice-President--Mr. T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C.
Secretary-Treasurer--Dr. W. C. Deming, Westchester, New York
City.
Executive Committee: Prof. John Craig, Cornell University;
Henry Hales, Ridgewood, N. J.; Prof. C. P. Close, College
Park, Md.
Exhibits of nuts, nut literature, trees, grafting methods, a budding
tool, etc., were received and shown from nineteen different
contributors. A detailed account of these has been published and is on
file.
The following resolution, introduced by Mr. T. P. Littlepage, was
unanimously adopted:
Resolved, that the Northern Nut Growers' Association express its
appreciation of the attitude of the National Nut Growers' Association in
encouraging the organization of associations which have for their
purpose the development of the nut industry, and we hereby pledge our
support to, and our cooperation with, said National Nut Growers'
Association. And be it further
Resolved, that we hereby acknowledge our great obligation to the many
pioneer nut growers of the South who have done so much to put nut
culture on a scientific basis, and that we express to them our deep
gratitude for the fund of valuable information and data which they have
worked out and made available.
The meeting then adjourned.
The Secretary-Treasurer has received for membership fees $108.00, and
expended for postage, printing and stationery, telephone and telegrams,
$59.27. Remaining in treasury, $48.73.
The following leaflets were issued during the year:
A reprint of Dr. Morris's article "Nut Culture for Physicians."
A list of societies, books and other publications devoted to nut
culture.
A list of some of the chief nurserymen carrying nut trees in stock.
The President also published in the Garden Magazine for May an article
on nut culture, in which he referred to our organization, as a result of
which some 45 letters of inquiry were received by the secretary,
covering the country from Canada to Texas and from British Columbia to
Panama.
The leaflets, and notices of the annual meeting, have been sent to about
321 addresses, including the members, agricultural journals, nurserymen
and nut dealers, government and state officials, state horticulturists,
correspondents and persons who it was thought might be interested.
The following letter was sent to 21 leading nurserymen:
"The President of our association, Dr. Robert T. Morris of New
York, asks me to suggest to you that it might be well for your
firm, or some member of it, to join the association, to be present
at the meetings and to take up the matter of raising such nursery
stock as is in constant and growing demand by the members. We need
to be in touch with those who are growing things commercially and
if they are present at the meetings they will know what we want.
The national association is largely made up of professional
nurserymen."
Nov. 15, 1911.
Two nurserymen have accepted the invitation. Evidently the others do not
yet think the northern nut grower one whose acquaintance is worth
cultivating. We hope to convince them to the contrary.
The following letter has been sent to the state horticulturists of the
northern states and the provinces of Canada.
"The Northern Nut Growers' Association desires your interest, your
aid and advice, your membership and, if possible, your attendance
at the meetings.
It would also be of help to the association in its work if you
would give it information of those persons in your state who are
interested in nut culture."
Nov. 15, 1911.
Cordial replies have been received from M. B. Cummings, Secretary of the
Vermont Horticultural Society; from Le Roy Cady, Chief of the Division
of Horticulture, Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station; and from J.
H. Poster, Professor of Forestry, New Hampshire Agricultural College.
Fifty postal card reminders of this meeting were sent to members and
others a week ago.
The secretary has also made investigation by correspondence on the
hickory bark beetle and the identity of _Juglans mandshurica_.
The response from all communications to the various officials of the
Department of Agriculture at Washington has been prompt, cordial,
interesting and helpful. This should certainly be very encouraging, if
encouragement is needed, coming from men likely to be far-seeing as to
the needs for, and the possibilities of, nut culture. Prof. Frederick V.
Coville is conducting experiments in rooting hickory cuttings sent by
the secretary. Prof. Walter Swingle offers his cooperation in
experiments in propagation.
The general correspondence received by the secretary shows an interest
and an enthusiasm that reveals the growing appreciation of the
importance of the purposes for which this association stands.
(The following figures are brought up to date of going to press.)
Eighteen of our 60 members are from New York, 8 from Connecticut, 6 from
Pennsylvania, 4 from New Jersey and Illinois, 3 from the District of
Columbia, 2 each from Indiana, Virginia and Minnesota, and one each from
Massachusetts, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Colorado, Kentucky,
Michigan, Oklahoma, Panama and Canada. Thus seventeen states, the
District of Columbia, Panama and Canada are represented in our
membership.
Eight of our members are women, one of them a life member, nine are
professional nurserymen, eight are physicians, six are connected with
educational institutions, three are lawyers, five agriculturists, two at
least are capitalists, and all expect to be, two are in literature and
there are one each of the following: clergyman, painter, insurance,
secretary, railroads, senator.
The national association has 273 members of whom 52 are from the
northern states. We ought to have all of these.
The secretary is keeping a record of the scattered articles,
communications to agricultural journals and other literature relating to
nut growing. He would consider it a favor if the members would send him
information of anything of this kind that may come to their knowledge.
Mr. Littlepage: I move that the report of the Secretary-Treasurer be
approved.
Professor Craig: I second that motion. I would like to add just a word,
to the effect that it seems to me that the Secretary has started out in
a very promising manner. He has not merely performed the routine duties
of the secretary, but he has studied the case, and has presented in an
analytical and striking form a good many facts not apparent on the
surface, had he only given us the stereotyped matter in the conventional
way; and it seems to me that this augurs well for the future of the
Secretary's office. I trust he can keep up the gait. (Carried.)
Professor Craig: May I say that it seems to me there are one or two
matters arising out of the Secretary's report which are worthy of
special action? One is the question of the invasion of the Scolytus
beetle; the other is the nomenclature of _Juglans mandshurica_. It
occurs to me that it might be well to appoint committees on these
subjects to report during the sessions of the society. I might say on
the Scolytus matter, that I have conferred with Professor Comstock, who
has been kind enough to say he would place the matter in the hands of
one of his assistants, who will present to the society the latest we
have on that subject; and in the event of a committee being appointed, I
would suggest that that person, Professor Herrick, be made the chairman
of that committee.
President Morris: I will appoint Professor Herrick and Professor Craig
on the scolytus committee, and on the nomenclature committee I will
appoint Doctor Deming and Mr. Barron.
In this connection, I will have to say, however, that I neglected to
bring my correspondence relating to the nomenclature of _Juglans
mandshurica_. I can say a word that the committee may wish to use. For a
long while, I have been trying to trace the origin of the name _Juglans
mandshurica_. It is applied to two different nuts. The one described in
the United States government bulletin is the nut originally described by
Maxim as _Juglans mandshurica_ more than thirty years ago. That
nomenclature has priority for two reasons: first, because of the date,
and in the second place, because of the recognized standing of Maxim as
a botanist. The Yokohama Nursery Company has been sending out a very
different nut which they call _Juglans mandshurica_, evidently of the
race of _Juglans regia_. The _Juglans mandshurica_ of the government
bulletin is like the butternut, the _Juglans mandshurica_ of the nursery
companies is evidently a race of _Juglans regia_. I have conferred with
Doctor Britton, Sargent, and other authorities, and we have never been
able to trace the name given to this walnut of the _Juglans regia_ type,
_Juglans mandshurica_, until by accident I happened to get word from the
Yokohama Nursery Company to the effect that they had made up that name
in the office a few years ago, not knowing that a previous _Juglans
mandshurica_ existed and had been named by Maxim. So that traces the
rodent to its hole. The name _Juglans mandshurica_ by Maxim is the
proper name for the worthless butternut-like nut from China. De Candolle
named the valuable walnut that has been sent out by the Yokohama Nursery
Company _Juglans regia sinensis_. So both of these nuts have been
previously named, and by authority.
Professor Craig: It is a question, then, of priority.
President Morris: Yes, a question of priority; but really the Yokohama
Company had no right to make up that name. It was simply made up in the
office as a matter of trade convenience, and they attached to this
_Juglans regia_ nut a name that had been applied to an entirely
different nut, not knowing that this name had been previously applied.
So there is a _Juglans mandshurica_ and a _Juglans regia sinensis_,
respectively.
Mr. Littlepage: Is the walnut, _Juglans mandshurica_, which you have
been discussing, similar to the ordinary butternut of the Middle West,
the Indiana white walnut?
President Morris: You can find nuts much alike on first inspection, but
the mandshurica nut has six ridges in addition to the suture ridges. The
leaf of _Juglans mandshurica_ is sometimes a yard in length, with
twenty-seven to thirty-one leaflets, sometimes--an enormous tropical
leaf. The nut is usually too small to be valuable.
Mr. Littlepage: I have seen the butternut of the Middle West nearly
similar, but it grows on the ordinary tree with white bark, and has
small leaves.
President Morris: The general outline of the nut is about the same in
both, but the air chambers are very much larger in the _mandshurica_
than they are in the butternut and there is a marked difference in the
flavor. You can distinguish them readily enough.
Mr. Littlepage: The butternut grows wild throughout the Middle West,
usually along small water courses and alluvial lands. There are perhaps
one hundred and fifty on a creek corner on one of my farms.
President Morris: They are very plenty here at Ithaca. In fact, you will
find them in Maine and Nova Scotia.
Mr. Littlepage: I saw them in Michigan.
President Morris: I will state, that from two until four the members
will view the collections, and make the tour of the Campus buildings.
During that time the report on competition, or at least examination of
specimens in competition, should be made, and I would like to appoint
Professor Reed and Mr. Littlepage on that committee, and I will serve as
_ex-officio_ member of the committee. The other committees I can make up
a little later. The next order of business will be the President's
address. Mr. Littlepage, will you take the chair?
THE HICKORIES.
ROBERT T. MORRIS, M. D.
So far as we know, the hickories, belonging to the Juglandaceae, are
indigenous to the North American continent only. Representatives of the
group occur naturally from southern Canada to the central latitude of
Mexico, in a curved band upon the map, which would be bounded upon the
east by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, and on the west
roughly by the Missouri River, until that river bends east from the
eastern boundary of Kansas. From the angle of that bend the hickory runs
approximately southwest into Mexico.
The exact number of species has not been determined as yet, because of
the open question of specific or varietal differences in some members of
the family. Sargent's classification at present includes eleven species:
Hicoria pecan, H. Texana, H. minima, H. myristicaeformis, H. aquatica,
H. ovata, H. Carolinae-septentrionalis, H. laciniosa, H. alba. H.
glabra, and H. villosa. To this list may be added H. Mexicana (Palmer),
which so far seems to have been found only in the high mountains of
Alvarez, near San Louis Potosi in Mexico; and H. Buckleyi from Texas,
which was described once by Durand, and since that time overlooked by
writers, excepting by Mrs. M. J. Young in 1873, who included the species
in her "Lessons in Botany." Professor Sargent tells me that the Buckley
hickory will be included in the next edition of Sargent's "Manual of the
Trees of North America." This brings the number of species up to
thirteen. In addition we have well marked varieties: H. glabra odorata,
H. glabra pallida, and H. glabra microcarpa, making sixteen well defined
hickories that have been described.
Nuts of all of these hickories are in the collection of "Edible Nuts of
the World" at Cornell University, with the exception of nuts of the
varieties H. glabra odorata and H. glabra pallida.
In addition to the sixteen described varieties and species of hickories
in America, we have an endless variety of hybrid forms, because
cross-pollenization seems to take place readily between hickories of
synchronous flowering time.
Five of the hickories: H. pecan, H. Texana, H. minima, H.
myristicaeformis, and H. aquatica belong to the open-bud group, while
the rest belong to the scale-bud group. The winter buds of the open-bud
group resemble the winter buds of the walnuts in a general way, and in
artificial hybridization experiments I seem to note a close relationship
between the open-bud hickories and the walnuts.
There is no more promising work for the horticulturist than crossing
hickories with walnuts, and crossing hickories with each other. Five
hundred years from now we shall probably find extensive orchards of such
hybrids occupying thousands of acres of land which is now practically
worthless. The hickories are to furnish a substantial part of the food
supply of the world in the years to come. At the present time wild
hickories held most highly in esteem are: H. pecan, H. ovata, H.
Carolinae-septentrionalis, and H. laciniosa. Several other kinds have
edible kernels, sometimes of excellent character, but not readily
obtained except by boys and squirrels, whose time is not valuable. In
this group we have H. alba, H. glabra, H. villosa, H. glabra pallida, H.
glabra odorata, H. glabra microcarpa, H. Mexicana, H. Buckleyi, and H.
myristicaeformis. In another group of hickories with temptingly thin
shells and plump kernels, we have a bitter or astringent pellicle of the
kernel. This group contains H. Texana, H. minima, and H. aquatica.
Sometimes in the bitter group we find individual trees with edible nuts,
and it is not unlikely that some of them represent hybrids in which the
bitter and astringent qualities have been recessive.
Among the desirable species of wild hickories there is much variation in
character, and selection of trees for propagation is in its infancy. One
reason for this has been the difficulty of transplanting hickories.
Another reason is the fact that hickories do not come true to parent
type from seed. A third reason is the length of time required for
seedling hickories to come into bearing.
Concerning the first reason, the enormous taproot of young hickories
requires so much pabulum for maintenance that when the trees are
transplanted, with destruction of root-hairs along with the feeding
roots, transplanted stocks may remain a year or two years in the ground
before they are ready to send out buds from the top. On this account,
the Stringfellow method has in my locality proven of value. This
consists in extreme cutting back of root and top, leaving little more
than a short club for transplantation. The short club does not require
much pabulum for maintenance, and new feeding roots with their
root-hairs get the club under way quickly, because there is little
useless load for them to carry. The Stringfellow method further includes
the idea that stock should be planted in very hard ground, and seems to
be practicable with the hickories. The root-hairs which take up
nourishment from the soil find it difficult to carry on osmosis in loose
soil. The close contact obtained by forcing a way through compact soil
facilitates feeding. On this account, autumn is perhaps a better time
for transplantation of hickories, in the northern latitudes, at least.
Callus forms over the ends of cut roots at all times when the ground is
not frozen, and the more complete the callus formation the more readily
are feeding roots sent out.
One of the main obstacles to propagation of hickories has depended upon
the fact that nuts did not come true to parent type from seed. This is
overcome by budding or grafting, and we can now multiply the progeny
from any one desirable plant indefinitely. In the South grafting is
nearly as successful as budding, but in the North budding seems to be
the better method for propagation. The chief difficulty in grafting or
budding the hickories is due to slow formation of callus and of
granulation processes which carry on repair of wounds.
The propagation of trees from a desirable individual plant can be
accomplished also by transplanting roots. A hickory root dug from the
ground, divested of small rootlets, cut into segments a foot or more in
length, and set perpendicularly in sand with half an inch protruding,
will throw out shoots from adventitious buds. In my experimental work
with hickory roots, in covered jars, surrounded by wet moss, but with
the entire root reached by light, adventitious buds have started along
the entire length of the root, and we may find this an economical way
for root propagation, dividing up sprouting roots into small segments.
The chief objection to this method of propagation as compared with
budding is the length of time required for seedling trees to come into
bearing, propagation from roots probably requiring the same length of
time as propagation from seed, whereas by budding or grafting the
bearing period begins very much earlier. Forty-six years ago Mr. J. W.
Kerr of Denton, Maryland, planted three pecks of large shagbark hickory
nuts, but of the progeny only about twenty were satisfactory, most of
the trees bearing inferior nuts. These trees required from thirteen to
eighteen years to come into bearing, and young trees that Mr. Kerr
purchased from nurseries and planted were twenty-five years old before
they began to bear. Others who have planted shagbark hickories and
pecans state that nearly twenty years are required for the trees to come
into bearing on an average. When budded or grafted the pecan sometimes
comes into bearing in two years, and frequently in four years. We may
anticipate that other hickories will act analogously.
The hickories prefer rich, well drained soil for best development of
nuts, and an abundance of moisture, provided the land is well drained.
Many of the hickories, however, are so adaptable to various soils that
they often thrive in lands that are sandy, and dry, and almost barren.
In the latter case, they have to maintain an enormous root system for
feeding purposes, and this is detrimental to good bearing qualities. The
mocker-nut, pignut, and hairy hickory, perhaps adapt themselves best to
sandy soils. This feature may make them valuable species for planting
when one has no other soil, because the stocks can be used for grafting
better kinds.
While the hickories prefer neutral or alkaline soil, most of them will
grow fairly well even in acid glacial tills. Their preference, however,
for neutral or alkaline soils would suggest the use of a good deal of
lime in acid soils, when hickories are to be grown in orchard form.
All of the trees in the hickory group are intolerant of shade and of
competition with other trees. The more sunlight they can have the
better. Most of us are familiar with the hickory tree standing alone in
the cultivated field, which bears a heavy annual crop, when the
neighbors at the edge of the forest bear sparingly. Hickories in forest
growth put their energies into the formation of wood chiefly, and in the
struggle for food and light devote very little energy to fruiting.
The best method for cultivation of hickories has been worked out only
with the pecan up to the present time. With this species, it has been
determined that clean cultivation with plenty of fertilization gives
best results, as with apples. It is probable that Stringfellow's sod
culture method will come next in order, and will perhaps be most
generally used by nut orchardists, because it is less expensive and
requires less labor. The sod culture method includes the idea of cutting
all grass and weeds beneath the trees, in order to take away
competition, allowing these vegetable substances to decompose beneath
the trees and furnish food. There is no objection to adding artificial
fertilizer, or a still greater amount of vegetable matter.
The enemies of the hickories are not many in the forest, where the
balance of nature is maintained, but when man disturbs the balance of
nature by planting hickories in large numbers in orchard form certain
enemies increase, and must be met by our resources. Fungous and
bacterial enemies are beginning to menace some varieties of the pecan in
the South, and both in the North and in the South certain insect enemies
are becoming important in relation to all valuable hickories.
The bark boring beetle (Scolytus) has been reported as destructive to
hickories in some sections, the trees dying as a result of depredations
of the larvae of this beetle.
I find a large borer at work on some of my hickories, but have not as
yet determined its species. It may be the painted hickory borer
(Cylene), or the locust borer. It makes a hole as large as a small lead
pencil, directly into the trunk or limbs, and excavates long tunnels
into the heart wood. The painted hickory borer is supposed to occur
chiefly on dead and dying hickories, but the borer of which I speak is
found in the vigorous young hickories in the vicinity of my locusts,
which are riddled with locust borers.
In some localities involucre borers make tunnels between the nut and the
involucre, interfering with the development of the kernel.
The hickory twig girdler (Oncideres) is abundant in some localities, but
not as yet very destructive.
Hickory nut weevils destroy many nuts in some localities, and their
colonies increase about individual trees markedly. In such cases, it is
important to collect the entire crop each year from a given tree, taking
pains to destroy all nuts which contain weevil larvae. These may be
selected in a general way by dumping the freshly gathered nuts into a
tub of water. Nuts containing weevil larvae will float for the most
part, and in order to make sure of the destruction of larvae in the
remaining nuts they may be placed in a closed receptacle, and carbon
bisulphide poured over them.
One of the bud worms is sometimes very destructive to individual hickory
trees which have developed colonies, the larvae destroying the axillary
buds, and burrowing into the base of the petioles of leaves.
A new enemy which I found this year for the first time is the
_Conotrachelus juglandis_. This beetle ordinarily lays its eggs in the
involucre of the butternut. With the introduction of exotic walnuts, the
beetle has changed its habits, and lays its eggs in the herbaceous
shoots of walnuts and hickories. The larvae tunnel into the center of a
shoot, and destroy it, or seriously interfere with its nutrition.
Among the enemies of the hickory we must not forget the common field
mouse, and the pine mouse, which burrow beneath the surface of the
ground, and in winter feed freely upon the bark of the roots of the
hickories. They have destroyed many thousands of young hickories of
various kinds in my nursery, and in digging up roots of old hickories
for experimental root grafting I find that mice have been living freely
for years upon the bark of some roots.
RANDOM NOTES
Aside from the facts which have been grouped together in this paper,
certain notes may be of interest, as introducing questions for
speculation.
Are we likely to find more species among the hickories than the ones
already described? If so well described a species as the H. Buckleyi has
almost escaped observation, and if H. Mexicana is confined, as it seems
to be, to a very limited area, and if most of the hickories grow in
regions where few botanists are at work, it seems to me probable that
several species remain as yet undiscovered. These are likely to be
species which lack means of defence, and which are restricted to certain
small areas. If we make a parallel with other observations of recent
discoveries, one thinks, for instance, in Ichthyology of the Marston's
trout, the Sunapee sabling, Ausable greyling, and the Kern River trout,
confined almost to a certain stream or lake, and remaining undiscovered
for years by naturalists, although familiar to thousands of local
fishermen.
Sometimes there is a very apparent reason for the check to distribution
of a species. The men whom I employed to go into the mountains of
Alvarez for the Mexican hickory tell me that the trees are so loaded
down with mistletoe that they rarely bear a crop, and there are few nuts
with well developed kernels to be found.
Distribution of a powerful species of hickory, like the pecan, seems to
be limited in the North by incomplete development of the pistillate
flowers. These are borne on the ends of the herbaceous shoots of the
year, and the pecan has such a long growing season that in the North the
pistillate buds, which are last developed, are exposed to winter
killing. Southern limitation of hickories which have a very short
growing period, like the shagbark, may be due to the fact that after a
period of summer rest, new growth begins in the autumn rains, and this
new growth may not lignify for winter rest.
By artificial selection we can extend the range of all hickories far
beyond their indigenous range, which is limited by natural checks.
Extension of range, adaptation to various soils, and changes in the
character of the nut are likely to occur from grafting hickories upon
different stocks of the family. Thus we can graft a shagbark, which does
not thrive in poor sandy soil, upon the mocker-nut, which does grow in
such soils. Some varieties of the species may grow freely far out of
their natural range if they are simply transplanted. For instance, the
Stuart pecan, which comes from the very shores of the Gulf of Mexico, is
one of the hardiest pecans at the latitude of New York. I don't know
about its northern fruiting as yet.
If the Satsuma orange grafted upon trifoliate orange stock gives a
heavy, well flavored fruit, while the same variety grafted upon sweet
orange stock gives a spongy fruit of little value, we may assume that
similar changes in character of fruit will follow nut grafting. Perhaps
the astringent feature of the pecan nut will be found to disappear when
the pecan has been grafted upon certain other hickories. Sometimes
undesirable results are obtained from such grafting; for instance, the
pecan grafted upon water hickory stock has been found to grow freely for
four or five years, and then to die back unaccountably.
Stocks of rapidly growing hickories, like the pecan and the bitternut,
may serve to shorten the bearing time of slowly growing species, like
the shagbark, when scions of the latter are grafted upon such stocks. At
the present time I have shagbark grafted upon stocks of the pecan,
shagbark, bitternut, mocker-nut, and pignut, but these are all young,
and I cannot at the present time discern much difference in effect of
stock upon scion.
In cross pollenization of hickories, I have not as yet discovered the
best way to prevent the development of aphides and of other insects
under the protection of the paper bags (which cover the pistillate
flowers) sometimes to the point of destruction of flowers before nuts
are started. It is probable that sprinkling the leaves with Persian
insect powder, and leaving a little insect powder in the bag, will
settle the question.
I have not as yet learned how to prevent squirrels from getting at
hybridized nuts while they are still upon the tree. Squirrels cut
through mosquito netting which is tied about nuts to prevent them from
falling to the ground, and if wire gauze is used, they cut off the
branch, allowing gauze and all to fall to the ground, and then manage to
get the nut out of the gauze. The red squirrel particularly is a pest in
this regard, and will even cut off the tape which is tied about the
branches for marking purposes, for no apparent reason aside from pure
mischievousness.
Nuts which are to be planted must be kept away not only from the
squirrels, but from rats and mice. One of my farmhouses got the
reputation of being haunted because of mysterious noises made by rats in
rattling hybrid nuts worth a dollar apiece about between the partitions.
The best way that I have found for keeping nuts for sprouting purposes
is to have a number of large wire cages made. These are set in the
ground, nuts are stratified in sand within these cages, and allowed to
remain exposed to the elements during the winter.
It is probable that some of the hickories will be grown in forest form
in future because of the increased value of the wood of the species. For
growing hickories in forest form, it is probable that they should be set
not more than six or eight feet apart at the outset. At ten years of age
the first thinning will give a valuable lot of hoop poles. The second
thinning will give turning stock. The third thinning will give wood for
a large variety of purposes. I know of no tree which promises to return
a revenue more quickly when planted in forest form than hickories like
the shagbark and the shellbark, mocker-nut and pignut. These trees will
not be expected to bear nuts, because in the struggle for food and light
their energies will be directed toward making trunks.
Hickories are undoubtedly to be used for decorative purposes in parks
and streets by future generations. The stately pecan, the sturdy
shagbark, can be made to replace, South and North, the millions of
useless poplars, willows, and other bunches of leaves, which please the
eye but render no valuable annual or final returns. The chief reason why
this has not been done is because people have not thought about it.
* * * * *
President Morris: This paper is not to be considered with the respect
that is ordinarily due to a presidential address, but is open for
discussion, and I would like to have any of my theories disproven.
Professor Craig: Doctor Morris has covered a very extensive field in his
presidential address, and has raised so many interesting questions that
I imagine the difficulty with you is to know just where to begin.
Personally, and because I am not as thoroughly aware of the field of
Doctor Morris' hybridization work as I ought to be, I should like to ask
him what combinations of the hickories he has effected thus far. The
field of hybridizing nuts is an exceedingly interesting one, and Doctor
Morris has been the foremost worker in it. I am sure it would be
interesting to you, as it is to myself, to know briefly what ground he
has covered in the extensive range of his experiments.
President Morris: In answering that question, I am speaking from memory
and may not speak correctly. I have made crosses back and forth between
shagbark, bitternut, mocker-nut, pignut, and pecan. In the crosses I
made, using pecans, pollen was received from the South and put upon the
others. The number of crosses that are fertile I cannot state as yet,
because I have not had experience enough in protecting these nuts, and
many of the hybrid nuts were lost. Squirrels and mice destroyed the
labor of three of my men and myself during one season. I have secured
fertile hybrids between the pecan and the bitternut and between the
pecan and the shagbark. If I remember correctly, those are the only
fertile hybrids I have between hickories at the present time. In regard
to crossing hickories and walnuts, I have crossed back and forth several
of the walnuts, our black walnut, our butternut, the Siebold walnut,
with the pecan, and with the bitternut, and have fertile hybrids. These
are open bud hickories, and the open bud hickories seem to cross
pollenize freely with the walnuts back and forth, while the scale bud
hickories do not accept pollen readily from the walnuts. I would rather
perhaps not make a report to this effect for publication at the present
time, for two reasons. In the first place, I am speaking from memory; in
the second place, rats, mice, squirrels, small boys, visitors, and high
winds have made such inroads upon my specimens, and upon my work, that
it is not quite time to report. I am merely speaking offhand in a
general way, stating that the hickories, open bud and scale bud, both
seem to cross rather freely back and forth. Open bud hickories and the
walnuts seem to cross rather freely back and forth, while the walnuts
and the scale bud hickories apparently do not cross so readily back and
forth.
Professor Craig: In growing your hickories from root cuttings, have you
had any trouble from excessive sprouting?
President Morris: Anywhere from one to eight sprouts will start from
adventitious buds at the circle near the ground, and then I break all
these off but one, letting that one grow.
Mr. Wilcox (Pennsylvania): How do you prepare your stocks for budding
and grafting, in pots?
President Morris: I have tried practically every method that has ever
been described, and the only successful method that I have now has been
topworking vigorous sprouts of one year's growth. That is, I would cut
off the tops of the trees now. Next spring those tops send out very
vigorous sprouts. I bud those early in August or the latter part of
July, or else in the following spring, sometimes, we graft them; and in
grafting, it is quite important to cut longitudinally at one side of the
stock, and go clear to the cambium layer. That gives the flexible slice
on one side, and adapts itself to the tying.
Mr. Wilcox: Have you prepared any stocks in pots at all?
President Morris: Yes. I personally have to leave these to others. I
tell my men to do it, but it is rather new work for them, and I give
them so much to do that things are apt to be neglected; and just a
moment of neglect at the wrong time will wipe out a whole year's work. I
have not cared very much at the present time for root grafting in pots.
I have lost a great proportion of the grafts, and it does not at the
present time seem desirable; but I believe if that is done in hot houses
with the ground warmed from the bottom, it is very apt to succeed. Give
them plenty of time for granulating. They granulate very, very slowly.
Mr. Wilcox: What kind of pots do you use?
President Morris: Some Professor Sargent showed me, long, made for the
purpose.
Mr. Collins (Pennsylvania): You spoke of the hairy hickory. What hickory
is that?
President Morris: _Hicoria villosa_, that you find from Carolina
southward.
Mr. Littlepage: You spoke of the Stuart as being the most hardy pecan in
the latitude of New York. I presume you meant of the southern pecans?
President Morris: It seems to be one of the hardiest anyway. Even
Virginia forms don't stand it through the winter as well as the Stuart.
Mine are not fruiting as yet.
Mr. Littlepage: What varieties have you there?
President Morris: Appomattox and Mantura are northern ones I have.
Mr. Littlepage: Have you none of the Indiana varieties?
President Morris: Yes, I have the Indiana varieties on northern stocks,
but those have only gone through one winter. They went through all
right. I would say that the Stuart is quite as hardy as those.
Mr. Littlepage: I have observed the Stuart in Indiana. A friend of mine
has a small orchard of several varieties of pecans. I notice some places
where the Stuart has lived six or seven years, and then some
particularly hard freeze has frozen it back. I have a letter from Mr.
Jones in Louisiana, in which he says they had a recent freeze, and
every variety of pecan he had there had suffered, except the Stuart. I
don't recall whether he mentioned the Moneymaker in a previous letter or
not, but he did mention the Russell and some other varieties.
President Morris: We have a number of pecan trees about New York that
have been grown on private estates. Pecans have been planted in
Connecticut and Massachusetts. You run across seedling trees here and
there, and a good many of them are perfectly hardy. They are very apt to
be infertile. The staminate flowers are apt to be destroyed because they
mature so late, and they may not carry any nuts. Pollination is
imperfect as a rule, and nuts may not fill.
Mr. Reed (Washington, D. C.): But trees of Stuart are in bearing?
President Morris: I don't know about bearing. Three years they have
stood a temperature of twenty below zero, so that is a pretty good test.
Mr. Reed: You haven't seen any nuts yet?
President Morris: No, I haven't seen any nuts; but they mature their
wood, and if they mature their wood, they are likely to mature staminate
and pistillate flowers.
Mr. Littlepage: While it is true they may mature staminate and
pistillate blossoms, the question arises whether or not the growing
season is going to be long enough at the end to mature the nuts. I
notice in going through wild groves in Indiana, once in a while you have
a tree which never matures any nuts, though it has bountiful crops. The
frost gets them.
Professor Craig: There is evidently a lack of summer heat to ripen
fruit. Before we get quite away from this subject, I would like to ask
Mr. Roper if he has noticed any striking differences in the hardiness of
Stuart and other northern forms of the pecan in his particular locality.
Does Stuart maintain its reputation for hardiness in his locality? We
are interested in that question from the northern standpoint.
Mr. Roper (Virginia): I think it does, but that is discussed in a paper
which I shall read some time here in the meeting. Both the Stuart and
Moneymaker have done better with us than any other of the southern
varieties when they are budded on hardy stocks. The grafted trees do not
do well with us.
President Morris: Professor Lake, will you speak on any of these
points?
Professor Lake: I am learning much and prefer to continue a learner. I
shouldn't know anything about this crossing, except in the case of the
_Juglans regia_ and the oaks of California. That is one case that was
not mentioned. We have a remarkable hybrid between the native oaks and
the Persian walnut. It is remarkable in many ways. It has foliage that
is perhaps half way between the oak and the walnut, and the nut on the
surface looks like a small walnut, and on the inside it is between a
walnut and an acorn. I had an opportunity to sample the flesh, but it is
not edible yet. They are interested in the work very much, especially at
Chico and the Southern California Station.
President Morris: It is said to be a cross between the live oak and the
walnut. It seems absolutely impossible, but I have seen the nuts, and a
photograph of the tree.
Mr. Reed: We haven't devoted a great deal of attention to the
hybridization of nuts in our Department work. There is one thing that
occurred to me, as I sat here, merely of passing interest. A gentleman
in Mississippi sent a specimen of foliage, together with berries, from
what he said was a hybrid between the pecan and the China berry; and he
had the evidence, because the parent pecan tree stood right there, and
the China berry was the other parent tree! He wanted world wide
attention called to that. They were taken to the botanist, and he
recognized them as one of the ordinary soap berries. There was a similar
case this fall. A gentleman in Texas exhibited some nuts at the State
Fair at Dallas that he said were a hybrid between the mocker-nut, the
common hickory there in Texas, and the pecan. He said that the parent
trees stood near one another and that the pecan blossomed some years
about the same time that the hickory did, and in those years the hickory
nut was long, and in other years it was short. Somebody sent one of the
nuts to Mr. Taylor, Assistant Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry. He
sent the nut on to me, and I looked it up. I struck Texas on one of
those cold wave days, and drove five miles out and back in a Texas
livery rig, and found an ordinary hickory that bore nuts just a little
different from others. That is one way the Department is called upon to
ferret these things out.
Mr. Littlepage: I would like to ask Mr. Reed what information he has as
to the success of pecans bearing when grafted or budded on other
varieties of hickory? I say that because I know from traveling around
through the country that there is a widespread impression that it is
possible to have very extensive pecan orchards throughout the North by
topworking the wild hickory. I have had some little experience along
that line, but I don't know what the facts are; and Mr. Reed has made an
extensive trip recently for the Department of Agriculture, collecting
data in reference to the pecan.
Mr. Reed: The present situation, so far as we have been able to gather
the information, is just this. The pecan has been grafted on a good many
species of hickory, all the way from Virginia south to Florida, and west
to Texas; but rarely ever can we find an instance in which they have
produced satisfactorily after they have come to a bearing stage. We find
that they unite readily ordinarily, and grow rapidly; but the pecan
eventually proves to be a more rapid grower than the hickory, and when
it catches up and is the same diameter, then the pecan growth is slower,
and while they bear a little the first few years, later on they are not
productive. I don't wish to say that is final, but it has been the
experience so far. You will find most enthusiastic advocates of pecan on
hickory where it hasn't been tried for any length of time. The men who
try it find it unites readily and makes this quick growth, and think the
question is solved. But aside from a few instances in Texas, I don't
find very encouraging reports. It may be due largely to the fact that
the right varieties of pecan haven't been used. We know that in the
early history of pecan culture the Rome and Centennial and some others
that are light bearers were used; and then the pecan on hickory has been
looked at as so much saved, and they haven't been given much attention.
It is still very much a matter of doubt, but is not in a very favorable
light at present.
Professor Craig: I would like to ask Mr. Reed if he has looked over Mr.
Ramsey's work recently at Austin, Texas.
Mr. Reed: I was at Mr. Ramsey's last year, and I don't recall that that
matter came up at all.
Professor Craig: Didn't you see his plantation of top worked hickories?
Mr. Reed: I didn't know he had topworked hickories. He has topworked
pecans. Professor Kyle of the Station in Texas has recently issued a
bulletin on that very thing, and he cites a number of cases in which he
concludes that there will be a favorable outcome; but for some reason,
in the instances which he cites, the trees haven't borne very much. They
attribute it this season in one instance to the fact that they had a
storm at pollinating time, and last year some other accident happened
that prevented them from maturing after a quantity of nuts had set.
Mr. Littlepage: I mention this at this time because I want to get Mr.
Reed's testimony in the record, because I think that every prospective
nut grower must go through this stage. A year ago I undertook on my farm
in Indiana to bud the pecan into other varieties of hickory--I have a
great many wild hickories growing all over my farm,--shagbark,
shellbark, and different varieties of those even. So I went to work and
budded perhaps one hundred of those trees, and for a while it seemed
that there was going to be a great degree of success. I budded them all
upon the limbs where the bark was thinner, and tied the bud in with
waxed cloth very tightly; and by absorption the majority of the buds
lived a week or ten days. After that, there was perhaps a third of them
alive. For the next two weeks, we could find an occasional bud that
remained green, and then the number became so very small that I gave up
the idea that any would live. But this spring I found a few of these had
started to grow, but I had tied them so very tightly that in some
instances where there had been a growth of an inch or two, the bud part
had been cut in two. Then I undertook it on a much smaller scale. I cut
back eight or ten small hickory trees three to four inches in diameter,
let them throw up water sprouts, and budded into these. The bud wood I
used stuck very tight, and I examined the buds in November, and there
were quite a number alive of the Greenriver and Huntington varieties of
pecan. Whether they will grow finally remains to be seen.
(A discussion then occurred as to holding the afternoon session and
it was decided to continue the business during the afternoon,
instead of visiting the Campus.)
President Morris: I would like to comment on one point made by Mr.
Littlepage. He has given us perhaps the reason why pecans die back when
grafted upon other stocks. Mr. Reed, that is an extremely important
point. He has shown that the pecan grows so much more rapidly than other
hickories that when it has arrived at a proportion to be supported by
the root of the other hickory, it then ceases bearing because all the
energy is required for maintaining this new pecan top that tries to grow
faster than the hickory, if that is my understanding of this point.
May we not graft freely back and forth hickories of kinds which have
about the same rate of growth, and may we not graft other kinds of
hickories upon pecan stock, for we don't care how much nourishment is
given to a fine young shagbark?
Mr. Littlepage: That is a fine point.
President Morris: I am very glad Mr. Reed brought up that point. It is
going to save thousands of dollars if it is a fact recognized in time,
because many would go to putting pecans upon other hickories. We may
learn that certain kinds of hickories can be grafted to advantage upon
other stock, however.
Mr. Reed: There is another point right there I would like to have your
views on, and that is, the smaller the hickory is at the time the pecan
is grafted on it, the greater will be the influence of the pecan on the
hickory.
President Morris: It can drag the stock along perhaps. It has been
proved, I think, that a graft has a certain influence upon the stock,
and in some cases can drag it along willy nilly to a certain extent. The
root and the top get to balance each other fairly well if the root is
very small at the time the graft is put on. Most of the trees that have
been topworked to pecan have been various kinds of large hickories.
Perhaps if you were to take a shagbark hickory one to two years of age
and graft it, the pecan top would dominate or control that root, no
matter whether it wanted to grow or not.
Mr. Reed: The claim is sometimes made that if the pecan is grafted on
other hickory young enough, it will transform the hickory completely. It
will make a sufficient root system to feed the pecan as well as the
pecan root would. But I have never seen that demonstrated.
President Morris: That is speculative. It is a very valuable point, one
of the sort of points that would naturally be brought out at a meeting
of this kind.
Mr. Reed: Have you seen that with other fruits, Professor Craig?
Professor Craig: Yes. Each variety of apple produces its own kind of
roots without reference to the seedling stock. That is to say the scion
overrules the root in budding or grafting upon one or two year old
seedlings.
President Morris: A parallel that comes to mind now is the grafting of
Burbank's Royal walnut upon ordinary walnut stock. When that was done,
his Royal walnut was said to drag the other walnut along.
Professor Craig: I think it is a very valuable suggestion. I am not sure
I will go as far as the President has gone; but I think it is
exceedingly suggestive, and worthy of careful consideration.
Mr. Rush (Pennsylvania): I find the same experience in some instances,
that the graft outgrows the stocks. That is a peculiar instance of the
work of improper unions. Eventually the stock pushes up and forms a
perfect union in growth, with the Persian walnut. This is particularly
applicable to pecan and hickory. I suppose Mr. Reed will bear me out in
that, with regard to English walnut and black walnut.
Mr. Reed: Oh, yes.
President Morris: You occasionally see a variety of apple grafted on
another in which the graft part gives the tree a sort of slipshod
appearance. How about the bearing in that kind of a tree?
Professor Craig: They usually bear heavily where the food supply is
restricted.
Mr. Reed: That would make our pecans bear more heavily on hickory stock
than on their own.
Professor Craig: As a matter of theory, they ought to. The bearing
ought to be increased, because it is a system of girdling, or brings
about the same effect,--in other words it restricts the return flow of
the elaborated food. The food is checked at the point of union. Another
parallel is in the case of _Prunus domestica_, the European plum, when
worked on _Prunus Americana_, the American plum. In that case, the top
always outgrows the stock, and in ten years it presents a very curious
appearance. It presents the appearance of a very top-heavy head on a
very spindling stem. The bearing is usually encouraged, but the fruit is
usually small. The amount of fruit measured by numbers is increased, but
the amount of fruit measured by the size of individual specimens is
decreased.
Mr. Collins: Isn't the size of the fruit increased in the case of
apples?
Professor Craig: By topworking, usually, it is, but that doesn't
contemplate such an extreme case as that. It means when the union is
reasonably uniform, when there is a reasonable affinity between stock
and scion. But in extreme cases we get the opposite result. Reproduction
is encouraged, but size of fruit is checked.
President Morris: I would like to hear from Mr. Rush or Mr. Pomeroy in
connection with the hickory.
Mr. Pomeroy: I haven't ever tried any experiments with the hickory.
President Morris: We will discuss further some of the points that have
been suggested in this paper, because it seems to me we are along a good
line of cleavage, and this line of cleavage may dispose of some
questions that we haven't discussed. One question brought up was if the
bitter, astringent qualities are likely to be recessive among hybrids in
the trees which have bitter nuts.
Mr. Littlepage: I made a trip through Missouri and Arkansas a year ago,
and while there, took occasion to go into the forests, and investigate
to some extent the Arkansas and Missouri hickory and pecan. Among other
things, I found two hybrids, one of the pecan and one of the pignut, one
of which was bitter and inedible, the other a fairly good nut. I have
both of them with me here today. One of them was very astringent and
bitter, the other had taken more the quality of the pecan as to meat,
and was a fairly good substitute. I don't know what the reason for it
is, that one is fit to eat, and the other isn't, when they are both
hybrids between the pignut and the pecan.
Doctor Deming: How did you know they were hybrids, by the appearance?
Mr. Littlepage: Yes, the appearance is unmistakable. The pignut
characteristics are very prominent, also the pecan characteristics.
President Morris: Have the members anything to say about the
Stringfellow method of transplanting hickories?
Doctor Deming: I have had very little experience in transplanting
hickories, but I set out two Hales hickories I got from Meehan, and they
are both living, although they have made little growth in some three
years. Can you tell us what stocks the Hales hickory is grafted upon?
Mr. Brown (Pennsylvania): Upon the bitternut. All there are have been
upon the bitternut from the start.
Doctor Deming: Mr. Littlepage, what do you think of the future of
topworking our seedling hickories in the North with improved varieties
of hickory or pecan,--the commercial future?
Mr. Littlepage: It is largely speculative. I suppose it is the province
of every nut enthusiast to have an opinion about these things. In fact,
I find it is encouraging to talk to the fellow who has an opinion. My
notion is that there is a great future for topworking the various
varieties of the hickory in the North to the desirable forms of the
hickory, that is, of the hickory other than the _Hicoria pecan_. On my
farm I expect next year to devote some time to topworking the various
hickories I have to the desirable varieties of the shagbark. I think
that can be done throughout the whole country. The shagbark seems to be
indigenous to such extensive latitudes, that it seems to me there are
great possibilities along that line. I observe that around here we find
many of those trees. I have some very beautiful shagbarks that came from
Canada. My opinion is that it will be successful. I think the reason the
pecan has not proved very satisfactory upon the other species of hickory
is that most of those hickories have a close grained wood, and that the
distribution of available food depends largely upon the amount of sap.
The _Hicoria pecan_ is a much coarser grained wood. The flow of the sap
upward is facilitated much more than the flow of the sap upward through
the hickory stock of other varieties. I believe that is the reason the
theoretical rule would probably not work in this case, simply because
the distribution of sap cannot take place fast enough through the tight,
close grained stock of other varieties of hickory. Otherwise, I don't
see why the rule would not obtain, as with fruits. The experiences Mr.
Reed gives, I think, are generally recognized by those who have
experimented with them to any extent. I noticed in visiting Mr. Roper's
nursery he had one very beautiful specimen of the pecan grafted on a
hickory. That was the Stuart, was it not?
Mr. Roper: The Moneymaker. It had made a growth of four or five feet in
two years.
Mr. Littlepage: Do you know the variety of hickory that it was topworked
to?
Mr. Roper: Just our common hickory, I suppose the pignut.
Mr. Littlepage: It made beautiful growth from the wood standpoint.
Mr. Roper: Mr. Reed's point was that it would do that till it got by the
period of good nutrition from the root. Professor Craig says the
elaboration of food from the pecan top more than overcomes the
deficiency.
Professor Lake: I would like to question Mr. Littlepage's physiological
ground for the lack of proper fusion of liquids between the pecan and
the other hickories. I believe it is not authenticated that the water
supplies from the earth would not distil as fast in the close grained
hickories as in the more open grained pecan. At least, the very close
grained, firm woods of the tropics transmit a tremendous amount of
water, much in excess of many of our fine grained woods of the North.
And it seems to me I wouldn't like to have this Association go on record
as vouching for this explanation exactly. It seems to me there are
better explanations. Lack of fusion is not due to the amount of water
that is carried up, but rather to the fact that the root system of the
hickory does not develop fast enough to collect water to transmit.
Mr. Littlepage: I am very glad to hear Professor Lake's statements. My
suggestions were given only as a possible theory that occurred to me,
and I don't vouch for their accuracy. There must be some explanation to
controvert the general rule which Professor Craig has given us.
Professor Craig: May I add one word? When a stock and scion unite, the
union is really a mechanical one. It is a union of cells, and in that
respect it is simply mechanical, not a physiological union. The
different life types or character of the scion and top do not fuse, but
we have a mechanical union of cells, and that mechanical union is as
clearly shown forth as possible when we make a section through the point
of union. If your type of cell in the stock differs very materially from
the type of structure in the scion, the union is unsatisfactory. If the
types of tissue are much alike, the union is good and you do not have
either overgrowth of stock or undergrowth of scion very much, but you
have what is called a good union. It is to some extent a question of
mechanics, in my judgment, influenced by the cell structure of stock and
scion. If you have a good, smooth union, the two grow equally. Where you
have overgrowth of scion, you usually have a starved root, because the
food which is to be returned elaborated is checked at the point of
union, the root is starved, and you have a short lived tree, because
your root system, which ought to receive its share of the distributed
food, is underfed, finally weakens, and the whole structure fails.
Professor Lake: You may have mechanical union, but you can't have the
after fusion in which you are going to have proper function of stock and
scion.
Professor Craig: Each cell functions after its own kind. It is a
question of passage or transmission of food through that carrier, after
the union is effected. If the character of the two types differs very
much, the transmission of food is checked and is difficult.
President Morris: There is another mechanical point I'd like to ask
about. When the two types of cells differ, will the difference in degree
of capillarity regulate the amount of pabulum distributed, or does it
depend upon negative and positive pressure?
Professor Craig: That is a very difficult question, because it isn't
settled at the present time what credit we should give to capillarity
and what to root pressure in sap circulation.
Mr. Reed: There is another question I would like to ask Professor Craig.
Supposing you have a mechanical union perfected, what is the difference
in the food that different species of the same genus transmit? Has that
been worked out?
Professor Craig: I don't think so. Of course, there is a difference in
the food. That is proven, because there is a difference in the quality
of the food. The tree machine, the tree factory speaking individually,
evidently makes different products, and that is shown by the different
quality of nuts. That is all we know about it.
Professor Lake: That part below the scion still continues to be normal
hickory, and that part above, pecan, so really it is not a matter of
distribution of water supply by gravity or other pressure, but rather a
distribution of the proper amount of elaborated food; and that is
transmitted through the cell itself, not the cell walls. Because this
top makes a food that is different from the normal requirements, or
because the latent character of those cells below does not respond to
the food supply as actively as the part above, is the whole question, it
seems to me. If the cells below functioned as the cells above, there
would be no question about the stock and scion being the same.
Mr. Littlepage: Of course there must be sufficient flow of sap to
distribute food. The hickory root might not send the flow of sap as fast
as the pecan top would like.
Mr. Reed: Is Mr. Lake's point always true, that the stock below the
point of union remains a normal hickory?
Professor Craig: I don't believe there are more than one or two
exceptions noted to that, and those exceptions are recorded under graft
hybrids.
Mr. Reed: A seedling pecan tree owned by Mr. B. M. Young of Morgan City,
Louisiana, was top worked with scions from the McAllister hican some
seven or eight feet above ground, and later on the bark of the pecan
trunk below the point of union became scaly like that of the hican
above.
Professor Lake: That would suggest something worth while, if that part
below would produce fruit like the part above, but I would want to
question a little the modification in bark characteristics being a
direct result of cross grafting.
Mr. Reed: Of course, it was no check--only one instance.
Professor Craig: There are one or two others that are authentic. I have
known a case of plum. Here we have the plum stock, we will say it is
_Prunus Americana_, grafted with _Prunus triflora_, the Japanese, then
later on, _Prunus domestica_ is put on top. I have seen a sprout from
triflora bearing Japanese plums, while the top of the tree bore _Prunus
domestica_, although there was only a small section of stem in there
between our two distinct species. They were perfectly normal.
President Morris: Each elaborates its own kind of food in its own kind
of cell. I would like to hear from Mr. Brown and Mr. Wilcox on this
matter of grafting--the influence of stock on scion.
Mr. Wilcox: We had a good show of stocks, but instead of allowing them
to become established in the pots, we grafted them as they started into
growth after rooting. Had they been established, we would have expected
better results.
Professor Craig: What method do you employ?
Mr. Wilcox: Side grafting.
Professor Craig: Do you mean whip grafting?
Mr. Wilcox: Side whip grafting.
Doctor Deming: I would like to ask Doctor Morris what he thinks of the
practical future of grafting our hickory seedlings with improved
varieties of hickory or pecan, and the method most likely to
succeed,--whether grafting or budding, and at what season. It is
important to learn whether we can so graft or bud our hickory sprouts
that within a few years we can hope to get something from them.
President Morris: We can only make a parallel with the pecan. If we know
that it requires fifteen or twenty years for coming into bearing as a
seedling tree, and if we know that it bears frequently in two, three, or
four years after being grafted we can anticipate analogous action with
other species of hickories. I haven't been able to get testimony from
men who have grafted hickories. One man told me he thought shagbark
grafted upon other shagbark, topworked, came into bearing in seven or
eight years. Another man told me that his came into bearing in a much
shorter time than it would otherwise, while with one particular variety,
the Hale, I think that twelve years has been required for the tree to
come into bearing.
Doctor Deming: I have a communication from Mr. Hales in which he speaks
of a tree grafted in 1880, but doesn't say when it began to bear.
Mr. Littlepage: He told me it has taken some of them twenty years.
Doctor Deming: But the pecan on hickory has been known to bear the
second season, that is, topworked. Can we expect such results in
topworking our own hickories?
Mr. Littlepage: I think so.
Doctor Deming: Are we going to have success in topworking, and by what
method?
President Morris: I believe in the South they can graft, but in the
North we have got to do it by budding. My best results have been late
July or early August. I believe herbaceous budding promises a good deal.
Mr. Rush: Were those buds then of the year previous?.
President Morris: Those were buds from the year of the scion, and
herbaceous stock of the year.
Doctor Deming: Mr. Littlepage has had some success in budding hickory
very early, haven't you?
Mr. Littlepage: I was just stating that I started in last year to bud. I
think it would be possible to make a pecan orchard bear early by budding
into these hickories, ten, fifteen, or twenty years old. This next year
I am going to try hickory on hickory. I am going to try three processes.
I am going to try bark grafting, and whip grafting in the body of the
tree which has been cut off. Then, I have quite a number of hickories
each four or five inches in diameter that I have sawed off and allowed
to put up clusters of water sprouts, and I am going to whip graft some
and put paper sacks over them, and see which is the best.
President Morris: I have found budding the best.
Mr. Reed: Doctor Morris referred to the analogy of the pecan grafted on
pecan as coming into bearing in two years. Do you account for that in
the fact of its being a graft, or the fact that the wood you selected
came from a tree that had the characteristic of early bearing?
President Morris: No doubt that characteristic was transmitted, and
further, no doubt the grafted stock was used from bearing wood. Those
points are all of interest.
Mr. Reed: Does the mere operation of grafting or budding influence
earliness of bearing?
President Morris: Yes, if I understand the question rightly. A tree that
might not bear for fifteen years as a seedling may bear in three years
grafted.
Mr. Rush: I have Persian walnuts that bore two fine nuts the second
year. I have young trees, one about thirty inches, and I am sure it
will be full of nuts next year, unless some providential misfortune
should intervene.
Mr. Reed: At what age did the original trees begin to bear?
Mr. Rush: Those were buds shipped to me from California.
Mr. Littlepage: I am firmly convinced that there is something in the
process of budding or grafting that stimulates the growth. For example,
I have scions that were not over four to eight inches long grafted on
one year seedling pecans which, at the end of this season's growth, were
as much as thirty inches high. All along in the same row where seedling
pecans were not grafted, there is none over eighteen inches high.
Mr. Reed: To have made exact comparison, you would have had to take buds
from your seedling nursery trees, and graft on other trees. You are
comparing these buds from one tree with seedlings of another.
Professor Lake: I would like to ask if you didn't bud or graft the best
stocks in the row too?
Mr. Littlepage: We took the whole row, as we came to it, but that
particular tree might have been on some particularly favorable stock. It
is a matter of a good deal of interest to see why a seedling which
wasn't budded at all didn't grow as high as a scion which was budded in
summer, stratified all winter, then put into the ground in an unnatural
position.
Professor Craig: It is the same principle, I think, which we discover in
pruning. If we prune heavily during the dormant season, the effect is
increased vegetative growth. If we wish to stimulate the growth of an
old tree somewhat debilitated, we go to work and cut off a large portion
of the top. We don't disturb the root. The effect is that with the same
amount of pushing power from the root, we have a decreased area over
which that energy is spread, and it results in apparently increased
growth. I am not quite sure if we were to measure it up in a scientific
way, we would actually find it was increased growth. There are fewer
branches, but they have made greater length. In the case of grafting our
pecans, we cut off our tops, set a two-bud scion in the root, and
usually but one starts and receives all the vigor from the established
root, instead of the vigor being distributed over several buds on the
original seedling top. We have as a result of that concentration of
vitality increased growth. I think that theoretical explanation will
stand fairly well, because it seems to be directly in line with the
effect of winter pruning.
Mr. Reed: I would like to ask Professor Craig to what extent he would
select seed for nursery purposes? What influence would the characters of
the parent tree from which the seed came have on the grafted tree?
Professor Craig: I don't believe that we can expect the characters of
our stock to affect the scion to any extent. I think what the nurserymen
should have in mind and keep in mind is a good, vigorous stock, and as
many stocks as possible,--as he can get out of a pound of nuts.
Otherwise, I don't think it cuts much figure. In that connection there
is a principle which I have discovered by experience, namely, that if
you are growing stocks it is wise to get your nuts as near your own
locality as possible. My experience last year in planting five hundred
pounds of northern grown nuts in a southern locality, and five hundred
pounds of southern grown nuts in the same locality, gathered in that
locality, is that I got fifty per cent more trees from my southern grown
nuts than northern, and trees that were fully thirty per cent better.
Mr. Littlepage: Where were your northern grown nuts stratified?
Professor Craig: They were not stratified. They were planted as soon as
they were received, and they were received within two weeks from the
time they were taken from the trees.
Mr. Littlepage: I am inclined to believe that if your northern grown
nuts had been stratified in the North, and undergone the customary
freezing and thawing, then had been taken up in the spring, you wouldn't
have seen that difference.
Professor Craig: I think that point is well taken.
President Morris: There is no doubt about that. In that same
connection--I would choose nuts for seed purposes of a mean type, for
the reason that nature is all the while establishing a mean. The big
pecan is a freak. If you plant big or small nuts, you don't get big or
small nuts in return. You get both big and little seeking a mean.
Mr. Roper: The large nut will give a better tree. We have tested that
out.
President Morris: Does that work out logically in that way, is it a
comparative matter all the time?
Mr. Roper: We haven't worked that out in the bearing, but in the nuts in
the row, the small nuts did not produce as large trees as the large
nuts. We never tested the mean nuts. We did select some of the very
smallest we had, and planted one of the northern and one of the southern
type. They came up, but the trees amounted to nothing.
President Morris: The idea I meant to convey was that both very small
and very large nuts are freaks, and neither likely to give as good a
tree as mean types. What would you anticipate, Professor Craig?
Professor Craig: I think that would resolve itself on a practical basis
from the practical standpoint. I think the mean or average sized nut
would give you the best results. There is no doubt, as Mr. Roper said,
the very small nut would give you weak seedlings. On the other hand, you
couldn't afford to use the very largest, so that a mean between large
and small would be the natural thing to choose. But we should do nothing
to discourage the planting of the finest specimens, with the possibility
of getting something unusually good. That is certainly the work for
every amateur.
Professor Lake: Does that statement, that you think it doesn't make much
difference about the parent of the nuts for stock, apply to walnuts?
Professor Craig: I haven't had any experience in walnuts.
Mr. Littlepage: I would like to ask Mr. Roper if he knows of any
examples where selection of fine varieties of seed has not resulted in
getting a more productive variety of the plant which he was producing?
Mr. Roper: Only one, and that wasn't in a tree.
President Morris: In regard to coming true to type, I think records have
been made of many thousands of pecans, and I don't know of any instance
where the progeny resembled the parent closely.
Mr. Pomeroy: Maybe someone could explain one of my failures a few years
ago in planting some Persian walnuts. I went to another tree in western
New York, and got a peck or more. They were planted the same day, in the
same ground, and all came up. Those I got from another tree resembled a
hill of beans, and stayed that way for three years. Why wouldn't those
grow? In soil three feet from those, there were trees growing. Those
nuts never did make trees. The nuts were of good size.
Colonel Van Duzee: As a practical nurseryman, I wouldn't think of
planting nuts from a tree that I didn't know individually. We have had
very much better success with nursery stock where we have chosen as seed
medium sized nuts from vigorous trees with which we were acquainted. In
the case of Mr. Pomeroy, I don't think there is any question but that
the history of his tree would account for the failure. In other words,
his nursery stock was undoubtedly from the results of years of slow
growth on the part of the original tree, or unfavorable conditions of
some kind. I don't quite agree with Professor Craig on the question of
the influence of stock, because I believe it is really a very important
point.
President Morris: We are not here to agree upon anything.
Colonel Van Duzee: I can't speak from the scientific standpoint, but I
am quite sure that in the nursery business I shouldn't care to overlook
that influence.
President Morris: When men agree, it means we are on stale old ground
which has been thrashed over.
THURSDAY AFTERNOON, DECEMBER 14, 1911.
President Morris: The meeting is called to order. The first paper this
afternoon will be that by Mr. J. Franklin Collins of the United States
Department of Agriculture, on the chestnut bark disease.
THE CHESTNUT BARK DISEASE.
J. FRANKLIN COLLINS, Washington, D. C.
I presume some of you know as much about certain features of this
chestnut disease as I do myself; for I have only worked over certain
sides of the whole question. I also presume that you are all acquainted
with the fact that this disease, which is known as chestnut blight or
the chestnut bark disease, is without doubt the most serious disease of
any forest tree which we have had in this country at any time, that is,
so far as its inroads at present appear to suggest.
I want to call your attention to certain general historical facts in
connection with the disease, facts which are familiar to some of you,
but unfamiliar possibly to others. The Forester of the Bronx Zoological
Park, Dr. Merkel, discovered in the fall of 1904, or had his attention
particularly called in 1904 to the fact, that a good many chestnut trees
were dying in his vicinity, a number sufficient to have attracted
especial attention. He looked at the matter carefully, and decided that
there was a definite disease on these trees. He handed specimens over to
Doctor Murrill of the New York Botanical Garden; who worked out the
disease, and decided that it was a new fungus which was causing the
trouble. He named it _Diaporthe parasitica_, the name under which it is
generally known today, although there is some question as to whether
that is the one which should be applied to it. This, you remember, was
in 1904--in the fall.
The first publication which appeared on the disease was in 1906, as I
recall it. The publication which then appeared was Doctor Murrill's upon
his investigations. The disease has spread very rapidly since then, so
that today we know the disease in a general area indicated by the red
color on this map. The green area indicates in a general way the natural
distribution of the common chestnut. Since 1904 investigations upon the
geographical range of the disease have been carried on so far as to show
that the disease is now known over approximately the area indicated in
red on that map. The northern limits of the disease are perhaps in New
York State. Further east, it is known as far north as northern
Massachusetts, mainly in the western part, and it is also known in
Boston. There have been two or three cases of the disease found in the
Arnold Arboretum. On the west, we have two cases in West Virginia, and
the most southern station which I know of is in Bedford County,
Virginia. But those are isolated stations beyond the area which is
indicated here. I shall have a little more to say in regard to the
distribution.
Before speaking of that, I want to call your attention to a few points
in regard to fungi in general, points of common knowledge to all who
have studied fungi or mycology. A fungus is a kind of plant which does
not, on account of the absence of the green coloring matter, manufacture
its own food. It is a plant which has, in other words, no green foliage,
and as it has no green foliage, it must obtain its organic or elaborated
food from some other source. The fungi have very aptly been termed the
tramps of the vegetable kingdom, that is, they live on food prepared by
somebody else. They can take certain organic substances and change them
apparently into other organic matter which can be used by the plant. In
the case of this chestnut fungus, we have a fairly typical fungus in
certain respects. We have a vegetative stage of the fungus which is
nothing more or less than a lot of threadlike structures penetrating the
bark of the chestnut, the inner bark or the middle bark, and there
drawing the organic matter from the bark of the chestnut and
appropriating it to its own use. Fungi, like practically all other
plants, have two stages of existence, one the vegetative or growing
stage, the other the reproductive stage. Sooner or later the fungus will
produce the fruiting bodies, after it has obtained a sufficient amount
of food to justify the formation of these more highly organized
structures. In the case of the fruiting body of the chestnut fungus, we
have very small, pinhead-like structures, which come out to the surface
of the bark, the vegetative portion developing through the interior of
the bark. On smooth bark we find that these fruiting pustules are apt to
appear all over the surface. With bark that is sufficiently old to have
ridges and crevices, we find these fruiting bodies only in the crevices.
These fruiting pustules which you will see on this bark are the
structures which produce the reproductive bodies, these latter being
known as the spores. There are two types of spores which are produced by
this fungus. One is the type which is commonly spoken of as the summer
spore, the other the type which is spoken of as the winter spore. The
winter spore is known from the point of view of the mycologist as the
perfect stage of the fungus, that is, it is the more characteristic of
this particular fungus. If we should make a cross section of the bark,
we should find that the vegetative stage is running through the middle
bark, and commonly the inner bark, sometimes in one place only,
sometimes in the other only, sometimes in both. This vegetative stage
later sends up in various ways a mass of tissue which results in the
formation of pustules. These appear on the surface, sometimes more or
less regularly rounded, sometimes rather irregular. In the case of the
summer spore stage, we have inside the pustules a mass of tissue which
is formed into spores. The interior of the spore mass, or at least
portions of it, is somewhat mucilaginous, so that when moisture is
applied a swelling of the interior mass is produced at a certain stage
and something has to break. As a result, we have a mucilaginous mass
pressed out through the break in the shape of a twisted thread, much the
same as if you take a collapsible tube of paste and pinch it.
Now, one of those summer spore threads may contain anywhere from one to
five million spores. I have tried to estimate the number in a thread of
this sort which was about an eighth of an inch long, and by taking a
certain portion of that thread, mounting it in a drop of water, and then
counting over a certain measured area under the microscope, I have
estimated, by multiplying, that there were 2,400,000 spores in that one
thread. So you can imagine how many of these spores may be produced by a
single diseased area which has produced perhaps four or five hundred of
those pustules, each pustule containing anywhere from one to twenty
threads. Each one of those spores may develop a new diseased area,
provided it is transported to a fresh break in the bark of a chestnut
tree. Fortunately, only a very small fraction of one per cent ever
reaches the proper place for growth.
This last is what I alluded to as the summer spore stage. There is a
winter spore stage, or technically, the ascospore stage, which comes, as
a rule, later in the development of the fungus. In this same pustule,
later in the season, certain sacs are formed. These have long necks
which extend to the top of the pustule. These sacs are sufficiently
large to be seen with the naked eye. They are dark colored. Inside
these, we have a lot of smaller transparent sacs or cases in each of
which we get eight spores, sometimes in one row, sometimes in two rows.
Each spore can propagate the fungus.
We have, then, two types of spores, either one of which can reproduce
the fungus under suitable conditions. There is still another way by
which the disease may be kept going. The vegetative stage can survive
the winter and continue growing the following year.
I will say right here that I am planning to give you merely an outline
of this disease, and have time afterwards for questions which I think in
a meeting of this sort are one of the most productive sources of
information.
In regard to the rapidity of spread of this disease, I will merely call
your attention to two cases as illustrations, or to certain facts,
rather. One is that the disease, so far as our attention has been
directed to it, has developed over the area indicated on the map since
the fall of 1904. Another case is one which has occurred in Rhode
Island, where I have had a chance to watch its development a little more
closely than in other places, that is, more constantly. In the fall of
1908, after I had made over thirty excursions around Rhode Island, I was
unable to find a single trace of this disease, and no one else was able
to find a single case of the disease in Rhode Island. In May, 1909, I
happened to be about five miles west of the city of Providence, and I
found two or three cases, all in one rather restricted spot. Later, it
was discovered a little farther south, and soon, a little to the north,
so that at the end of the season of 1909 we knew of about ten cases in
Rhode Island. At the end of 1910, a season in which very few trips were
made with the special object of surveying for the disease, we had more
than doubled the number of infections found. That led to putting someone
into the field in 1910 to make a survey of Rhode Island. A man was also
put into the state of Massachusetts for the same purpose. Mr. Rankin, in
cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, made a
survey of New York State, which has resulted in this map. A man was put
into Pennsylvania and one into Maryland for the same purpose. As a
result of the survey in Rhode Island, where at the end of 1910 we knew
of less than fifty cases at the outside, we now know of very nearly 4000
cases. It has been much the same story in Massachusetts. At the
beginning of this year, there were four towns in which the disease was
known; now there are seventy-one. At present in Connecticut, the disease
is known in one hundred thirty-two towns of the one hundred sixty-eight
in the state, and the southwestern part of Connecticut is very badly
infected, just as badly as the adjoining portions of New York.[A]
[Footnote A: Since this statement was made the disease has been
definitely reported in approximately 164 towns in Conn. [J. F. C]]
So much for illustrations of the rapidity with which the disease
develops. I am not going to say at this time anything special about the
origin of the disease, simply because we haven't yet decided what was
the probable origin. I will merely say there are some different theories
in regard to the origin. One is that it was imported from the Orient,
another, that it is a saprophyte, a fungus which has lived normally upon
dead organic matter, but which has taken on the parasitic form, which
develops on living organisms.
In connection with any disease of this sort, one naturally inquires, how
are we going to recognize this disease? This past summer Pennsylvania
has put into the field thirty or more men who have been trained to
recognize this disease, with the idea of locating the infections in
Pennsylvania. As perhaps all of you know, the legislature of
Pennsylvania has passed a law relating to this particular disease, and
has appropriated $275,000 to see if the disease can be controlled. Their
idea is that they have perhaps fifty million dollars' worth of
chestnuts, and if $275,000 can show whether or not this disease can be
controlled, it is economy to try it.
So far as Pennsylvania is concerned, it means possibly the saving of the
chestnuts in the middle and western parts of the state; but it also
means that if they can check it there, it is likely to save the great
area of chestnut growth along the southern Appalachians. I don't want to
make any prophecy as to how that experiment is likely to come out, but,
however it comes out, it will be a very great object lesson as to what
can be done on a large scale with a disease of this sort.
One of the first things which had to be considered in Pennsylvania was
to train a number of men to recognize the disease, so as to go over the
country and locate the diseased spots. The method of recognizing the
disease I will briefly outline. Of course, over a large country, many
hundreds of square miles, it is a long, and laborious operation to look
over every tree. It is perhaps impossible without a very much larger
force than $275,000 could put into the field. But there are certain
clues to the location of the disease which can be seen a long distance,
a quarter of a mile, at any rate. The means of recognition is by what I
commonly call danger signals. This fungus, when growing through the
bark, starts from the common point of infection and grows in all
directions, up the stem, down the stem, and around the stem. Wherever
this vegetative stage, technically known as mycelium, penetrates, the
bark is killed; and of course, you all know what that means. When this
has succeeded in reaching around a twig, branch, or trunk, everything
beyond that girdled area dies, not immediately, perhaps, but sooner or
later it dies; and it dies in such a way that the leaves change color
during the summer. The first obvious change which can be noted is a
slight wilting of the leaf; then the leaf assumes a pale green color,
and from the pale green it takes on a yellow stage; from this a reddish
yellow stage, and then a brown, till the leaf is the ordinary dark dull
brown of the dead leaves. This coloration which takes place is
conspicuous. There is your guide, your danger signal. If the disease has
worked very long, half a season, in one locality, you are almost sure of
getting some of these danger signals. Where one is present, you can go
and look up the cause of that danger signal. It may be a broken twig,
but the point is to find out if it is this disease which has caused the
danger signal. We start by looking at the danger signal, then at the
base of the dead area. If we find here some of the reddish pustules
which have been shown on this bark we are quite sure that the disease
is present. Then by cutting into the bark a little, instead of the
normal buff or yellowish tint of the fresh clean bark, we get, when the
disease is present, a rather mottled effect, varying from a brownish to
lighter or even darker. There is a peculiar fan-like effect to this
mycelium which penetrates the bark, so that by shaving off the surface
of the bark, you get this mottled appearance, which gives you another
means of identifying the disease. So we look for the danger signals, and
then look for the meaning of the danger signals. If we find those two
things, the pustules and the mottled mycelium, we can very safely say
that this disease is present.
There are a few fungi which closely resemble this chestnut disease in
general appearance, but they are not very common, and are not confused
with the disease, as a rule, when you get the lens on them.
In regard to the experiments for the control of the disease. I want to
say a few words. As far back as 1907, the United States Department of
Agriculture began experiments on certain experimental plots,
particularly in Long Island near the region where the earliest cases of
this disease were known, to see if it could be controlled on individual
trees after they had become infected. Later, experiments were undertaken
along the same line in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Spraying was
tried, although there was no idea that it would be of any use, because
the vegetative stage of this fungus is running through the interior of
the bark, where no spray could reach it. Thus spraying was found to be
of no use whatever. Then the operation of cutting out the disease was
tried. Where the diseased spot appeared, it was cut out with a gouge.
Then the exposed area was covered in various ways with antiseptics.
This gave, for a year or two, very promising results, but about the
third year the disease appeared to get over on to the margin, where it
had been cut. This led to the later discovery that the disease had been
running in the wood, as we had previously suspected. So the cutting out
of the bark alone is not sufficient. This year cutting has been done so
as to include a portion of the sap wood.
There is just one other topic which I want to allude to. That is in
regard to the immunity question. It has been found that this disease
attacks the common native chestnut, the chinquapin, the various
cultivated European chestnuts, but very rarely the Japanese. In regard
to this point. I hope that Doctor Morris will tell us something about
his experiments on the breeding of chestnuts with the idea of producing
a new and immune variety.
You will understand that I have just made an outline of this disease,
and I hope that, if there are any questions to be asked, you will make
them easy, so that I can answer them.
President Morris: This very interesting paper is now open for
discussion, and I hope that we can get some points which will allow us
to know how to control the disease. With the wind-borne spores that are
carried miles and miles by a single sharp gust of wind, this disease is
a difficult matter to control. We must, I believe, find some natural
enemies, if we can. I don't know where to look for these. I will have to
ask the mycologists what we may anticipate along the line of natural
enemies. I would like to ask if it is common for a weak species to
become a devastating species. Have we many parallels in the field of
mycology? The point relating to raising immune kinds is one for
discussion. Are we to raise immune chestnuts? The history of most
plants, I think, has been this, that where they have met their enemies
in their natural environment, the fittest survive; and it seems to me
that this is a case in which we perhaps have survival of the fittest in
North Asia; for the North Asian chestnuts certainly resist the disease
better than any others, but the chestnuts of southern Asia are quite
vulnerable to it. In my own orchards, I have twenty-six kinds of
chestnuts, and have followed them along, for the purpose of determining
which ones would resist the blight best. I cut out last year 5000 old
American chestnut trees on my property. There is not a tree in all that
part of Connecticut, the vicinity of Stamford, that is not blighted, and
very few that are not dead. Now, in the midst of this disaster, what was
the behavior of my experimental chestnuts of various kinds? It was this.
I had about one thousand Koreans that lived up to five years of age,
growing in the midst of blighted chestnuts, and none of these blighted.
It occurred to me that it might be well to graft these on the stumps of
American chestnut, because these Koreans resisted the blight; but when I
grafted them on the sprouts of American stumps, at least fifty per cent
of the Koreans blighted, showing that the pabulum wanted by the
_Diaporthe_ seemed to be furnished by the American chestnut. I had some
chestnuts from North Japan that resisted the blight, and yet these
grafted on the sprouts from American chestnuts blighted. I had some
Chinese chestnuts, and none of those have blighted as yet; and in
grafting them, two or three have not been blighted. I have perhaps
twenty-four chinquapins, both the western form and the eastern, and only
one branch of one tree has blighted. Of the southern Japanese chestnuts,
very many are blighted. They are not as resistant as the northern. I
have a good many chestnuts of European descent, and among these some
resist the blight pretty well; and some of the American progeny, like
the Hannum and Ridgely, seem to resist well enough, so that now I am
grafting these upon many different sprouts. This should be worked out,
and I wish to know what men have tried experiments along this line. I
would like to ask Professor Reddick to discuss this question.
Professor Reddick: I have very little that I can add at the present
time. The points the talk has raised here are of the greatest
importance, and there is certainly room for a great many people to work,
though here in this state we have only one man who is devoting his
attention particularly to this disease. I find in connection with the
work that Professor Collins is doing, and in connection with the
Pennsylvania work, that there are some people engaged on these very
vital and important problems. They are not giving any particular
attention to field work, but are working on these special problems. I
think you all appreciate that progress of investigations on this kind of
subjects is rather slow, and in the meantime the man who has his trees
and his nurseries blighting is surely up against it.
I have only one thing in mind, a thing which I suggested to Mr. Rankin
when he first started on this work, and it is a thing which Doctor Peck,
our state botanist, suggested at the chestnut bark conference that was
held in Albany not long since. Doctor Peck says that he has lived a good
while, and he has seen epidemics come and go. Certain plants, certain
varieties were threatened with extermination, yet at the present time
they are still with us. I suggested to Mr. Rankin that, while it looked
as if chestnut blight was going to be with us indefinitely, the chances
were it would all be gone before he had a chance to find out all the
things he thought he was going to. Our friend Doctor Clinton of
Connecticut would have us think it is only a matter of a few years to
have conditions come around so that the chestnut blight will not be a
thing of serious importance. In other words, Doctor Clinton stoutly
maintains that, while this fungus is doing so much now, it is largely
due to the condition to which our trees have come, owing to a succession
of very unfavorable summers and winters; and as soon as the conditions
get around to normal, the disease will be no more. Some of us are not
inclined to agree with him entirely.
Professor Craig: Perhaps you can tell us what Mr. Rankin has been doing
this year.
Professor Reddick: At the beginning of the past summer, from the surveys
and observations that had been made almost entirely by the United States
Department of Agriculture authorities, it was known that the chestnut
disease had extended up the Hudson River perhaps as far as Poughkeepsie.
It was our idea that he would probably find the border line of healthy
and diseased trees somewhere in the vicinity of Poughkeepsie, so Mr.
Rankin located it opposite Poughkeepsie at Highlands. During the course
of the summer, the assistance of the State Survey Commission and the
State Department of Agriculture was enlisted, and there were six or
eight men who spent part of July and all of August surveying the portion
which now appears on this map in red. The results of this survey show
that the entire Hudson River Valley, with the exception of a small part
in the vicinity of Albany, is now infected. In fact, it is the general
opinion that there is no use whatever to attempt in any way to save the
trees in this locality. Very fortunately there is a strip of territory
which is almost solid spruce forest, and in which there are almost
absolutely no chestnut trees. We have already, then, abandoned the
Hudson River Valley, but with this great natural barrier, you see that
it is going to be relatively easy, so far as the State of New York is
concerned, to put some sort of an artificial barrier across the little
neck there. This all depends on what can be done in Pennsylvania. This
cross-hatching of red along the Delaware River represents an area in
which the infection is only partial, and the few dots of red shown about
Binghamton represent localities in which the blight has now been
exterminated. The diseased trees have been taken out, stumps killed, and
bark burned. We are in hopes the disease will not reappear there. I
don't believe things have been definitely settled at Albany in the
Department of Agriculture, where the control work naturally lies, but
Commissioner Pearson is very anxious that something be done to try to
control or prevent the further spread of the disease in our state. Plans
are being made so that a large number of men will be located in this
territory next summer, making very careful inspection, removing the
occasional diseased trees, killing stumps, and burning bark; and a
forester will be connected with the work, for the purpose of advising
with regard to the use of the diseased timber. I might call attention to
the fact that our state agricultural law, as it now reads, empowers our
Commissioner of Agriculture to quarantine against this or any other
dangerous fungous disease,--a very broad step from what it was before
that time, when the only fungous disease he had any power to act against
was the black knot of plums.
Mr. Reed: From the chart, it appears that the disease is more common in
the vicinity of streams and bodies of water.
Professor Reddick: That is an observation that has often been recorded.
Mr. Reed: How is it elsewhere than in New York?
Professor Collins? The question has been asked more often than
otherwise, why do we find the disease on the tops of hills away from the
water? I think there isn't a sufficient amount of evidence or
observation on that point to say whether it is more common near or away
from bodies of water.
I will call your attention to one experiment that can be performed by
anybody with the microscope. Take a piece of one of those spore horns or
threads, put it in a drop of water on a microscope slide. Inside of two
minutes, it will disappear entirely. It is dissipated in the water, and
the spores are so small you cannot see them with the naked eye. If you
let the water dry on the slide, then put that slide under the microscope
and try to blow those spores off, you can do it just about as easily as
you can blow the shellac off a door. You can brush that film under the
microscope, and you can't see that a single spore has been disturbed.
The explanation, I think, lies in the fact that these spores are of a
mucilaginous nature, and when they dry, they stick to whatever they come
in contact with. That does not mean that these spores cannot be blown,
because they may lie on fragments of leaves and be blown about by the
wind. Again, some of the spores may be detached in a mechanical way and
thus blown by the wind. But I am quite convinced that the spores are not
blown broadcast, simply because they are of a sticky nature.
Now, those spore threads are forced out under certain conditions,
moisture conditions, as a rule. It has been shown after repeated
observation that these spore threads are pushed out a day or two after a
rain. Of course, in the springtime, the atmosphere is much more moist
than later in the season. Consequently, we find more of these spore
threads in the spring than at any other time. You will recall that the
last week of August this year was a week of almost continuous rain. Two
days after that ceased, I saw as many of these spore threads as I had
seen at any one time all summer. So that, although conditions are best
in the spring for greater abundance of these spores, they may occur at
any time. If a bird alights on these spore masses, there is no reason
that I see why they should not be carried. We know the rain water
running down the trunk dissolves these spore masses, and they are
carried down, there to reinfect the tree when insects crawl around.
President Morris: My brother has some Japanese chestnuts twenty-five or
thirty years of age. By cutting off one branch at a time as fast as they
blighted, he has saved those trees.
Professor Collins: You spoke, Doctor Morris, of grafting Japanese on to
American stock. I have seen repeated cases where the Japanese has been
grafted on to American stock. The whole Japanese tree has been killed,
and we find the disease has killed the tree by girdling the American
stock below the graft.
President Morris: Yes, I find this over and over again. In one case
where I had a very choice variety of Burley's chestnut, the _Diaporthe_
attacked the American stock underneath this, and had practically girdled
it when I saw it. There remained a fraction of an inch of good bark. I
cut off all except that, and put tar over it, and grafting wax over
that, and this year the graft has grown a foot or more. So by giving a
great deal of attention to some one little injury, we can overcome the
effect of it.
Mr. Jensen: In your grafting, what was the relationship of the rapidity
of the growth of top after grafting, compared with the old stock?
President Morris: When these grafts are put on the stock, on rapidly
growing shoots from a large root, they grow enormously, and sometimes we
have had nearly one hundred feet of growth in one year. That, however,
would be a chestnut like the Scott or the Ridgely. We frequently get
thirty, forty, or fifty feet growth in one year.
Mr. Jensen: Does the plant grow more rapidly when it is grafted than on
its own stock?
President Morris: I have not grafted Japanese on Japanese stock, but the
Japanese and Korean grafted on American stock does grow more rapidly
than it does on its own roots.
Professor Craig: Mr. Hall has another interesting instance of chestnut
blight.
Mr. Hall: On the ground where the blight appeared, there were four
chestnuts set by a nurseryman, two Japanese and two European chestnuts.
Of the European chestnuts, one has succumbed to the blight, and the
other has been continually attacked for the past four or five years,
twice in a period of four years, and it is still alive and recently
appears to be in a more healthy condition than for the past four or five
years. During that time it has never borne any chestnuts. The companion
tree of the same kind was girdled in two or three years.
President Morris: There is comparative resistance. Some of my trees went
down instantly, and went all to pieces, while others stood up for four
or five years. Chestnuts of the Paragon type I hoped were going to be
fairly immune, but they are going pretty fast. I have advised people who
have asked about Paragon chestnuts to buy them, but be prepared to have
to cut out blighted branches as they appeared. It is a question whether
I can advise even buying them much longer, because I have lost nearly
all my Paragons, but they have not gone as fast as the Americans.
Doctor Deming: Ought we not before we leave this subject either to
appoint a committee, or to pass resolutions urging action on the part of
the state similar to the action taken by Pennsylvania in attempts to
limit this disease? I would make such a motion, that the Northern Nut
Growers' Association urge legislative action similar to that already
taken by the State of Pennsylvania to limit the spread of the chestnut
bark disease.
Mr. Littlepage: I second the motion. (Carried.)
Professor Craig: Should not the Secretary be empowered to send a copy of
those resolutions to the Commissioner of Agriculture? I think the motion
includes that.
Mr. Reed: It seems to me that this disease is of as much importance to
other states as it is to New York and Pennsylvania, and that this
sentiment, as this action can only be a sentiment of the Association,
should be sent to the Commissioner of Agriculture in other states, as
well as in New York. This is not the New York Nut Growers' Association.
I would make that as a motion, that the sentiment of this Association in
favor of state action similar to that of Pennsylvania be pressed upon
the Commissioner of Agriculture in each state where that disease is
prevalent.
President Morris: Shall we make Mr. Reed's motion take the place of
Doctor Deming's?
Doctor Deming: I would accept that as an amended motion. (Carried.)
Professor Craig: Inasmuch as we have gone that far, should we not take
another step, and that is, fearing lest the United States Secretary of
Agriculture should feel slighted, should we not as the Northern Nut
Growers' Association draw his attention to the fact that here is a
serious disease sweeping over the whole northern part of the country,
representing a very considerable portion of his domain, and ask his aid
and cooperation with the various states which are attempting to do such
good work?
President Morris: Will that have to go as another motion or as an
amendment to Doctor Deming's?
Professor Craig: I move that a resolution of a similar type be passed,
and forwarded to the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States.
(Carried.)
Mr. Wilcox: May I ask some of the gentlemen who have experience along
this line if we may look for any cure or help for it in the future, and
if so, along what lines will it be possible, along the lines of
isolation, of natural enemies, or some other preventive or cure?
President Morris: Yes, I would like to ask if anyone has a definite
proposition beyond the one that has been proposed, restricting it by
cutting out the advance agents of the blight. I believe that has been
the only proposition so far. We certainly can't kill off the birds that
will carry off blight on their feet. We don't know if a fungous enemy is
likely to follow it up, or if it is a weak species, brought into
activity by certain conditions, which will be brought back to its normal
mode of life again. I don't know that anything definite could be stated
till we know more about it.
Professor Craig: Perhaps Mr. Collins or Professor Reddick might offer
something in the way of suggestions on that.
Mr. Collins: I don't think that I have anything to propose beyond the
points suggested by the President. I think there are a good many points
which should be kept watch of, and I don't know any one that looks any
more promising than the other, except perhaps this of cutting out the
disease. But this is an expensive method.
Mr. Reed: Have you ever found any individual trees in infested districts
that were immune?
Mr. Collins: Only the Japanese, but I think Doctor Morris has found the
Korean even more immune. I shouldn't use the word "immune," perhaps, but
"highly resistant" to the disease. I have watched quite a number of
trees, in the midst of disease, which seemed to be resisting the
disease. I explained it in some cases by the fact that the bark was very
free from injury--maybe that was the reason why they did not take the
disease so easily as they might otherwise.
President Morris: The next paper will be that of Mr. C. A. Reed of the
United States Department of Agriculture on "The Present Status of Nut
Growing in the Northern States."
NUT GROWING IN THE NORTHERN STATES.
C. A. REED, Washington. D. C.
With the exception of the chestnut, no species of native nut-bearing
tree has become of prominent commercial importance as a cultivated
product in that portion of the United States lying east of the
Mississippi and north of the Ohio and Potomac Rivers. The growing of
foreign nuts has attracted greater attention than has the development of
the native species. Almost with the beginning of our national history,
the culture of Persian walnuts attracted considerable attention
throughout the East, especially in the States of the Middle and North
Atlantic Coast. The European and Japan chestnuts, the European hazels
and the Japan walnuts have since come into considerable prominence in
the same area.
Within the district so outlined, which comprises practically the entire
northeastern quarter of the United States, there are few sections of
large extent to which some species of native or foreign origin has not
already demonstrated its adaptability to the soil and climatic
conditions, or to some other locality of approximately similar
conditions.
In order of importance, the species of native nut-bearing trees known to
be suited to some portion of the area under discussion, the following
list is probably not incorrect: The American chestnut (_Castanea
dentata_); the shagbark (_Hicoria ovata_); the American black walnut
(_Juglans nigra_); the butternut (_Juglans cinerea_); the pecan
(_Hicoria pecan_); the shellbark (_Hicoria laciniosa_); and the hazels
(_Corylus americana_; _Corylus rostrata_). The American beechnut (_Fagus
atropunicea_, Sudworth) naturally belongs to this list, but as it is
probably not under cultivation as a nut tree at any place in the United
States, it will not be discussed at this time.
The principal foreign species which have been tried in the
Northeastern States are: The European and Japanese chestnuts
(_Castanea sativa_ and _C. japonica)_; the Persian (English) walnut
(_Juglans regia_); the Japanese walnuts (_J. Sieboldiana; J.
cordiformis_ and _J. mandshurica_); the European hazels (_Corylus
avellana_ and _C. tubulosa_).
THE AMERICAN CHESTNUT (_Castanea dentata_, Marsh).
Representatives of the American species of chestnut are found native to
a large area. The species seems to avoid extremes of temperature, cold,
alkaline or acid soils, and an excess of moisture. It is apparently at
its best in the sandy and coarse gravelly soils of the uplands from
lower New England to the southern extremity of the Piedmont Plateau in
the East and from the extreme southern part of eastern Michigan to
northern Mississippi on the West.
Although the quality of the American chestnut is unapproached by most of
the foreign species, comparatively little attention has been paid to its
development, while considerable effort has been directed toward the
introduction and cultivation of the large European and Asiatic species.
Comparatively few varieties of the American species have been
originated, and of these none have been widely disseminated. The one
variety, which, because of its size, productiveness, and quality, has
been extensively propagated and widely planted, is the Paragon. This
variety originated at Germantown, Pa., and was introduced about 1888. It
is believed to have originated from a seed grown from a nut obtained
from a European seedling, then in one of the gardens of Philadelphia.
This variety has been propagated very extensively both in the nursery
and by grafting on native stumps and sprouts of cleared-over forest
lands. In the nursery it is now chiefly grafted to seedlings grown from
Paragon nuts. This variety is both precocious and prolific. In a 25 acre
orchard of young nursery grown trees planted near Boonville, Indiana,
during the spring of 1910, nearly every tree set a number of burs during
the same season. From two or three to from fifteen to seventeen burs had
to be removed from each tree in order to prevent over-taxation.
Mr. Charles A. Green of Rochester, New York, Mr. E. H. Riehl of Alton,
Illinois, and Mr. G. W. Endicott of Villa Ridge, Illinois, are the
introducers of a number of improved varieties of the American sweet
chestnut, illustrations and descriptions of which may be had upon
application to these gentlemen.
The extreme severity of the chestnut blight throughout the section where
it has made its appearance, the rapidity with which it has spread since
its discovery, and the present practical impossibility of keeping it
under control have put the future of the chestnut industry of this
country much in doubt. As has already been made clear during the present
meeting, this disease has resulted in the entire destruction of
thousands of forest and park chestnut trees in the sections where it has
appeared, and as evidence of the further apprehension with which the
chestnut blight is taken into account by the authorities familiar with
it, it may be well to state that at the last meeting of the Pennsylvania
State Legislature, the sum of $275,000 was appropriated for use in
studying and combatting this disease. Above every other question bearing
upon the subject of chestnut culture, that of this disease is by far of
the greatest importance to the prospective planter.
THE SHAGBARK HICKORY (_Hicoria ovata_).
This species is native to the greater portion of the area under
discussion. It is not common north of southern Maine and is much less
abundant than the chestnut in the lower New England and North Atlantic
States. It is best adapted to regions of deep fertile soils well
supplied with moisture, yet without standing water. It is very difficult
to propagate by asexual methods and ordinarily requires from twelve to
twenty years to bring it into commercial bearing. For these reasons
exceedingly few varieties have been called to public attention. The
location of several individual trees of superior merit to that of the
average are now known and arrangements are being made for their early
propagation.
The most practical means of obtaining young trees for nut purposes it
the present time is to plant nuts from selected trees. This method will,
of course, lead to the wide variation common with seedling trees, but
until experienced propagators meet with better success in their efforts
at grafting or budding this species than in the past, there is little
use for the amateur to undertake it.
THE AMERICAN BLACK WALNUT (_Juglans nigra_).
The American black walnut is common to much the same general area as the
shagbark hickory. It is much less exacting in its soil and moisture
requirements than that species and is much more frequent within the same
area. Its representatives, either native or planted, are found in almost
every kind of soil and at nearly every degree of elevation from the
well drained lowlands to the mountain sides. As with the shagbark, few
varieties of the black walnut have been introduced. The same interest is
now being shown by leaders in nut culture in their efforts to locate and
insure for propagation superior varieties of black walnuts as with the
shagbarks.
THE BUTTERNUT (_Juglans cinerea_).
The butternut or white walnut, as it is sometimes called, is one of the
most neglected of our native nut bearing trees. In the forest it abounds
under much the same conditions as does the black walnut, to which it is
closely related. Its native range within the entire United States
extends further to the East and North and is not found so far to the
South or West as is the black walnut. Like the shagbark, it is generally
less abundant within the area of its native range than is either the
chestnut or the black walnut within their respective native areas.
So far it is known to the writer, not a single variety of the butternut
has been introduced.
THE PECAN (_Hicoria pecan_).
The pecan is native to a very small portion of the area under
discussion. North of the 38th parallel it is found native along the
river bottoms bordering on the Mississippi River and its tributaries to
Davenport, Iowa, Terre Haute, Indiana, and nearly to Cincinnati.
Scattered individual trees are by no means rare in Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, as far north as the 41st
parallel, and they are occasionally found in the lower parts of
Michigan, New York and Connecticut. In rare instances, they have been
reported near the Atlantic coast in Massachusetts.
It is doubtful if any of these northern trees which are well outside of
the area included by the native range of the pecan have yet borne nuts
of good size and quality to an important extent. The efforts to carry
the pecan beyond the limits of its accepted range have thus far been
mainly by the planting of seedling nuts. During the past 3 or 4 years,
intelligent efforts have been made by several persons in the State of
Indiana to locate wild or seedling trees of sufficient merit to justify
their propagation as named varieties for northern planting. Already they
have called to attention and are propagating as rapidly as possible the
Indiana, the Busseron, the Major, the Greenriver, the Warrick, and the
Hinton. Some of these varieties compare favorably in the matter of size
with the average pecans of the South, and while none of those yet
discovered are of extremely thin shell, in points of plumpness,
richness, bright color of kernel and pleasant flavor one or two of these
northern varieties are not excelled by any of the southern sorts.
Scions and buds from these trees have been used in the propagation of
nursery trees, and already a few trees have been disseminated. Several
nurseries are now propagating these varieties but all combined their
output will necessarily be very limited for some years to come.
Somewhat in advance of the steps taken in Indiana two varieties, the
Mantura and the Appomattox, have been introduced from southeastern
Virginia by Mr. W. N. Roper of Petersburg.
The Mantura pecan is distinctly of the southern type,--large, thin
shelled and a ready cracker. It has been disseminated throughout the
North to some extent when grafted upon the stocks of southern seedlings.
None of the trees are yet in bearing. It is now being propagated by
grafting to stocks of northern seedlings and it is highly probable more
hardy trees will be the result.
The Appomattox pecan has not yet been propagated to great extent. Since
the variety was called to public attention, a horse stable has been
erected immediately under the tree; and consequently, being greatly
over-supplied with nitrogen, it has been unable to normally develop its
crops. Good specimens, therefore, have not been obtainable for
description during the past several years.
In the mind of the introducer, however, it is a valuable variety, and
well worthy of further observation.
THE SHELLBARK HICKORY (_Hicoria laciniosa_).
The shellbark hickory is much less common and far less well known than
is the shagbark. In its native range it appears in certain counties of
central New York, eastern Pennsylvania and in parts of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
According to Nut Culture in the United States,[B] this species attains
its "greatest development along the streams of southern Kansas and
Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma."
[Footnote B: Published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1896.]
The nuts of this species are considerably larger than those of the
shagbark and of much thicker shell, and commonly do not have as plump
kernels. Exceedingly few have been propagated.
THE AMERICAN HAZELS (_Corylus Americana; Corylus rostrata_).
Shrubs of these two species are often seen growing together throughout
the greater portion of the area under discussion. The former (_C.
americana_) is of somewhat the better quality. Neither has been
propagated asexually or cultivated to any extent, but it is doubtful if
any native species of the nut tree offers a more inviting field for
improvement than do these two species of hazels. The same methods of
searching out the individuals of superior merit to that of the general
average for propagation by grafting and budding by which other nut trees
are being improved should be followed with the hazels.
THE CHINKAPIN (_Castanea pumila_).
Except as a wild product, this nut has perhaps the least commercial
importance of any species mentioned in this paper. A few cultivated
varieties are in existence but the nuts are commonly looked upon by
experienced growers as novelties rather than as products worthy of
special attention. The species is merely that of a dwarf chestnut
growing as a shrub instead of as a tree. It is less hardy than the
chestnut, being evidently best adapted to the climatic conditions of the
southern portion of the chestnut area and even farther south.
FOREIGN NUTS.
THE EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC CHESTNUTS (_Castanea sativa_; _Castanea
japonica_).
It is probable that within the area under discussion greater attention
has been paid to the introduction of European and Asiatic chestnuts than
to any other foreign species. The former is a moderately strong grower
usually, with a low, rather broad top. The latter makes a small tree
chiefly of value for ornamental purposes. Both are grown principally
from second generation seedlings, which seem better adapted to American
conditions than do imported trees.
As in the case of the American sweet chestnuts the existence of these
species in the United States is threatened by the swiftly spreading
chestnut blight.
THE PERSIAN WALNUT (_Juglans regia_).
The Persian walnut was among the first nut species to be introduced. The
area east of the Rocky Mountains within which it seemed most successful
previous to 1896 was described in Nut Culture at that time as being "A
limited area along the Atlantic Slope from New York southward through
New Jersey, southeastern Pennsylvania, central Virginia, North Carolina
and Georgia." Continuing, the same publication said, "The tree endures
the winter in favored localities near the coast as far north as
Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but has never been planted
there except in a small way."
What was then said is still very largely correct. However, contrary to
the construction which might be implied from the wording, there are few
commercial orchards of Persian walnuts anywhere east of the Rockies;
one, that of Mrs. J. L. Lovett of Emilie, Bucks County, Pa., of from
fifty to seventy-five trees, approximately twenty years of age, is
bearing fully as well as could be expected under its present
environment. The trees appear to be entirely unaffected by the severity
of climatic conditions, but being seedlings altogether, and
uncultivated, the crop production is irregular. Reports from
northwestern New York and Pennsylvania indicate that this species may be
safely grown in those sections when within the zones which are tempered
by the influence of the Great Lakes.
Ordinarily the trees scattered over the Eastern States do not seem able
to permanently withstand the severe winters, as in most cases they are
not infrequently severely frozen back. In eastern Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and New York City, the writer recently
inspected numbers of fine trees apparently from 50 to 75 years of age
which showed no indications of winter injury. The owners seemed to be
entirely ignorant of the reputation of the species with respect to its
inability to withstand severe weather.
The nuts from many of these trees were of such large size and good
quality that a number are to be extensively propagated in the near
future.
THE JAPAN WALNUTS (_Juglans sieboldiana_; _Juglans cordiformis_;
_Juglans mandshurica_).
These nuts are of comparatively recent introduction into the United
States, having been brought from Asia since 1860. All are generally
hardy; the first two are rapid growers, very productive and serve to an
excellent purpose as ornamentals; the last is well known. The nuts of
the former two are smaller than those of our native black walnut, of
about equally thick shell, usually of no better quality, and as yet are
not in great demand on our markets. A few trees, however, should
certainly be given a place about the home grounds.
THE EUROPEAN HAZELS (_Corylus avellana_; _Corylus tubulosa_).
Numerous efforts have been made to introduce these species into the
Eastern states, but owing to the severity of a blight everywhere
prevalent with the American species in this section, such efforts have
usually met with failure. There have been very few instances in which
either species has been cultivated in the Eastern states for any great
period of time without being destroyed by blight.
The future of hazel nut production in this section evidently depends
upon the development of our native species or by hybridizing with some
of the foreign species.
In concluding this article, it may not be amiss to throw out the
following suggestions as to the steps by which all may help in the
development of the nut industry:
(1) Ordinarily, stick to the native species.
(2) Plant nuts or seedling trees only when budded or grafted varieties
cannot be had, but do not fail to plant nut trees of some kind.
(3) Whenever a tree or shrub is located which because of the superior
quality, size, thinness of shell and quantity of nuts appears to be
worthy of propagation, specimens should be sent to the officers of this
Association; to the State Experiment Stations or to the U. S. Department
of Agriculture at Washington, D. C, for examination. (Franks for the
mailing of such nuts to the U. S. Department of Agriculture without
postage will be sent upon application.)
(4) Nut trees must be accorded the same degree of cultivation and
horticultural attention given to other fruit-bearing trees, if
commercial production of nuts is to be expected.
President Morris: This interesting paper is now open for discussion. I
will start it by saying that the criticism of the Japanese walnut is
correct, so far as it goes; but we have there a fine opportunity for
good new work, and if the nurseries would take up this question in the
right way, they could open up an enormous trade for stock. Let us take
the _Juglans mandshurica_, and the _sieboldiana_, which have been
distributed more than any others over this country because of the beauty
of the trees. They grow rapidly, and are tremendously hardy, although
not so much so as the best of the Japanese walnuts, the cordiformis. It
was found on the Pacific Coast that the cordiformis went largely to
wood. In the East, it bears well, is perfectly hardy and the nut is
delicious. Individual trees bear thin shelled nuts, and individual trees
bear large nuts. In fact, I have seen the nut quite as large as the nut
of the average American butternut, and thin shelled, at that. The thing
for the large nurseries is not to sell Japanese nuts under that name,
but to sell the cordiformis, and sell only that, and only grafted trees.
In that way we would get rid of the less desirable varieties, just as
with the hickories a thousand and one shagbarks that we find are not
remarkable, and yet we will find here and there one that is worth
grafting and propagating. It is the same way with the Japanese walnuts,
but particularly this cordiformis which is hardy and growing native in a
climate which corresponds to Nova Scotia. If the nurseries will put out
this nut, grafted, they will have a very valuable nut to give us. I
notice that the speaker distinguished a "little shagbark." Now, I
wonder if that is not a question worthy of discussion right here. The
names shagbark, shellbark, and scaly bark, are applied indifferently to
_Hicoria ovata_, _Hicoria cinerea_, and _Hicoria septentrionalis_. We
can distinguish them much better if we take different names for the
little and the big shagbark,--if we call the little one shagbark and the
big one shellbark, it makes a distinction; and the reason why that
distinction seems legitimate is that the bark comes off like great
sheets from the big shellbark, and the little shagbark has the scales of
the bark coming off in smaller scales, shelling off. At the same time,
it is more scaly than the other. If we call the shaggy one, _Hicoria
ovata_, shagbark, and call the big western one shellbark, it seems to me
a distinction that we may as well make in our discussions, and fix the
names in such a way as to afford convenience.
Mr. Reed: My reference was to _Hicoria ovata_.
President Morris: Yes, that is for the little one, and if we call the
_laciniosa_ shellbark, that will make a distinction. Shall we call the
little one shagbark, and the big shagbark shellbark, or must we always
depend upon the scientific names in classifying?
Mr. Collins: May I call attention to another complication? To botanists
who are not particularly nut growers, there is another tree which is
known as the little shellbark,--that is the _microcarpa_, with a nut
about one-half to three-quarters of an inch long.
Professor Lake: Have we a committee on nomenclature?
President Morris: We haven't appointed that committee yet.
Professor Lake: I was going to move that the matter go to them, with the
suggestion that they take official action.
President Morris: Supposing we extend the function of the committee on
the nomenclature of _mandshurica_ to include this question of the naming
of the shagbarks.
Doctor Deming: Then had we not better include the President,
_ex-officio_, on that committee?
President Morris: We may as well begin, because there is no need of
having this eternal confusion.
Doctor Deming: I have never been able to understand why more attention
hasn't been given to the hazels. Here we apparently have a nut which is
easy to transplant, which is perfectly hardy, which comes into bearing
early, which bears a valuable nut--so valuable that when I went into a
confectionery store in New York, I saw trays of nut meats lying side by
side, and pecan meats were priced at $1.00 a pound and filbert meats
were $1.25. I understand the only obstacle to the growth of the filbert,
which might well fill the early waiting years of the nut grower, is the
hazel blight. I tried to get information on the hazel blight from Doctor
Waite of the United States Department of Agriculture, and also from Mr.
Kerr of Denton, Maryland, who, I know, has grown hazels for a long time,
and done it very successfully; but I have not succeeded in getting any
accurate information on the blight, and as I understand it, no accurate
experiments have been carried out in the treatment of the blight, or in
its prevention. It seems as if the blight, being an external fungous
disease, ought to be one amenable to treatment by sprays. I am not aware
of any experiments which have been made with that object.
President Morris: Henry Hicks of Westboro has given as much attention as
anybody to this matter. He made a great effort to introduce the European
hazels for years. They all went down with the blight. Specimens of the
blight you can get without difficulty.
Doctor Deming: Did he practice spraying experiments carefully?
President Morris: He told me he had tried all. What have the Meehans
done?
Mr. Wilcox: They have never had any trouble with the blight.
President Morris: How long do they keep them in the nurseries?
Mr. Wilcox: We keep them to six or eight feet.
President Morris: Do you have the common hazel abundant?
Mr. Wilcox: Yes, along the water courses.
President Morris: This blight is more apt to attack the exotics, and
over where Mr. Kerr lives there are no native hazels. He happens to be
on an island. He started Europeans where we have no American hazels, so
that accounts for his immunity.
Mr. Reed: His trees are practically all dead now. He has given up.
President Morris: That has been the history everywhere. That is the last
instance I have been able to find of successful raising of hazels. One
line, it seems to me, offers promise--that is the making of hybrids. I
am making hybrids between the American hazel and various European and
Asiatic.
Mr. Rush: I have had some experience with the hazel. I have exchanged
with Mr. Roody of Washington. He has sent the Barcelona and Du Chilly,
and they are growing very hardy without the least indication of blight.
There are two kinds of American hazels. I have them growing as large in
the bush as twenty to twenty-five feet. And then we have a small bush.
The small type is worthy of propagation. The Barcelona and Du Chilly are
thickly set with catkins this fall, and by all indications there will be
a very nice crop next summer.
President Morris: The rule is they begin to blight about the fifth year.
About the eighth they are gone.
Doctor Deming: Isn't that a most promising field for experiment, in
producing blight-free varieties, and also in spraying?
President Morris: As I understand it, this fungus lives in the cambium
layer of the bark, very much as _Diaporthe parasitica_ does, and at such
a depth that spraying is not much advantage. The fungus does not attack
the native hazel, except when it has been injured.
Professor Craig: We haven't heard from Mr. Barron.
Mr. Barron: I don't know that I have anything to say. I came here to
gather some information. I am chiefly interested in the possibility of
the use of nut trees for landscape effect.
President Morris: This belongs right with this paper, because the uses
of nut trees are not limited to the nuts for fruit purposes. Their
decorative value is one Mr. Barron brings in very properly, and it seems
to me we may replace thousands of practically useless trees in the parks
with wonderfully beautiful nut trees. What had you in mind particularly?
Had you thought it out?
Mr. Pomeroy: The nurserymen must have done something to induce people to
set out horse-chestnuts. There can't be anything more unsightly. It is
always shedding something in the way of filth. There are two or three
varieties of Japanese walnuts that are beautiful, at the time of year
when they are in blossom, with that long, red blossom. It seems as if
the nurserymen might do something to induce people to set out these.
President Morris: What could be finer than your English walnuts?
Mr. Barron: Mr. Hicks has given up hazel, but right close by Mr.
Havemeyer is starting right in again. He has had them there for two
years.
Doctor Deming: One of my correspondents wrote, asking me what varieties
of nut trees were most rapid growing and best for shade or screens. I
think that is a very good subject for investigation.
President Morris: We can discuss it right here.
Doctor Deming: I said the most rapid growing trees were the Japanese
walnuts, and perhaps the best for screens were the Japanese chestnuts. I
should hardly know what to say are the best for shade, because all of
the nut trees are so good.
Mr. Reed: It would depend very largely on the locality. Of course, there
are some of us here who are disciples of the pecan, and where you can
grow the pecan successfully, it is doubtful if there is a prettier shade
tree and one that makes less litter, or that grows faster. Some of the
hickories--the mocker-nut especially, _Hicoria alba_, makes a very
beautiful growth, and has a dense foliage of rich, dark green. For other
purposes, there is no prettier tree than the chestnut, aside from the
blight. It grows to greater size than most of the hickories and more
rapidly. The Japanese chestnuts I am not familiar with. The butternut is
not usually a compact enough grower to be a beautiful tree, but the
black walnuts and certain of our hickories, the rapid growing
hickories, are very fine, and this Rush chinquapin, I expect, would be
very fitting for hedge planting. It is a very compact grower, and grows
up about fifteen or twenty feet, making a very pretty tree. But every
one of these trees we are mentioning has its particular place in the
landscape. You can't use any one of them in all places.
President Morris: The objection to black walnut and butternut is the
early loss of leaves in autumn. I have heard others speak about it as an
objection. Among the rapid growing ones, there is no doubt the Japanese
walnuts are tremendously rapid growers, during the first few years. For
screen purposes, the chestnuts and chinquapin certainly would do
remarkably well. We have forgotten the beech altogether, simply because
we haven't been classifying it as a nut tree. But the nurserymen can put
out beech trees grafted from trees that bear fine, valuable nuts, and
give us the beech as a tree of double value.
Mr. Reed: Dr. Deming raised the question as to why the hazel nut was not
given more attention. It occurs to me that we have an analogy in the
pecan situation. The pecan is native up and down the Mississippi River
and out in Texas, and in that district you will find that a great deal
less attention has been paid to development of varieties of the pecan as
an orchard tree than farther east. All through Mississippi, Alabama,
Georgia, and Florida, we find new varieties by the scores. It seems to
be a case of distance lending enchantment.
Professor Lake: Going back, I wanted to ask you, Doctor Morris, if in
your work of reproducing the hazel, you had used the Pacific Coast hazel
for stock.
President Morris: Yes, the Pacific Coast hazel is really the same
species as ours, only it grows thirty or forty feet out there, and I
have seen it nearly thirty feet high up in the Hudson Bay country. In
some of the rich valleys in the far North, both on the Pacific and
Atlantic Coasts, the hazel becomes almost a tree. I have used it for
grafting stock, but I haven't used it for crossing as yet. I have a lot
of hazels ready for pollenizing next spring.
Professor Lake: It seems to me it would be a most excellent thing if
this Association could do something in the way of stimulating the
improvement of varieties of the native hazel. I can't help thinking that
bush is entitled to much more attention than we have given it in the
past.
President Morris: Some work has been done along that line. I devoted the
entire nut-collecting part of one year to studying the hazel. I went
over many thousands of hazels. One day, when I asked a neighbor if I
might go over his grounds, he said, "Yes, but what better hazel do you
want than that one that grows above your north bars?" He said, "We have
known of that for one hundred years about here." He couldn't find it.
Finally it was found, covered by a ton of grape vine. It has wonderful
hazels on it. I have transplanted it. It is a large, thin-shelled, fine
hazel, but a shy bearer. I have three very fine American hazels I am
going to use in crossing. This big, thin-shelled one is a wonderful
hazel, except that it is a shy bearer, and it is difficult to
transplant. I have transplanted four American hazels, and it took me
about two or three years to get them under way. It is a nuisance with
us. It grows in our pastures so rapidly the cows have to get out of the
way--crowds everything out. I have no doubt a great deal more work will
be done with the hazel. Now my bushes are all ready for pollenizing. I
have crossed a lot of them this year.
Professor Craig: I think Mr. Barron's point in reference to the
ornamental or esthetic value of the nut trees is very well taken,
indeed. It is a fact that nurserymen have paid more attention in the
past to those forms which are particularly striking in some way, rather
than to the forms which are actually and intrinsically beautiful.
Anything which has variegated leaves or purple leaves is sure to catch
the eye. As a matter of fact, I believe there are few trees which are
more picturesque than the hickories here in New York. The summer season
is not the season in which they carry their most beautiful forms. The
winter is the time when we see that picturesque framework standing out
against the sky, distinctive in every respect.
Mr. Collins: Isn't this subject one in which the Association might
interest itself?
President Morris: I have found that nurserymen to whom I have talked for
the most part were men of naturally esthetic taste, but dropped their
esthetic taste in order to adjust themselves to economic principles. If
a customer says, "Please give me a thousand Carolina poplars," the
nurseryman knows these will be beautiful for about fifteen years, then
ragged and dead and unsightly; but the customer wants them, and the
nurseryman has to furnish Carolina poplars.
Mr. Barron: The nurseryman, as a rule, doesn't take much trouble towards
educating the people up to the better stuff.
President Morris: I believe that if the nurserymen make a concerted
movement--or not necessarily a concerted movement--if any one firm or
two or three firms will make a business of introducing beautiful, useful
trees of the nut-bearing group, they will open up a new group. People
just haven't thought about it. They give an order for trees in a sort of
perfunctory way, because they must have them.
If there is no further discussion, we will go on to the Indiana pecan,
by Mr. T. P. Littlepage, and this will be the last paper of the
afternoon.
THE INDIANA PECAN.
T. P. LITTLEPAGE, Washington, D. C.
The subject of the northern pecan is one that I have been interested in
for more than thirty years. Away down in Spencer County, Indiana, on the
banks of the Ohio River, stand many large native pecan trees, and some
of my earliest recollections and most pleasant experiences are connected
with gathering the nuts from under these large trees; and, without
realizing it, I acquired much of the information in those early days
that has of late enabled me to carefully discriminate between the
desirable and undesirable varieties of pecans, viewed from the
standpoint of one who propagates them for orchard purposes. My interest
in the various points connected with pecan growing was at that time a
very direct interest, and the only motive I had for determining various
facts was the fundamental motive which largely dominates the world
today, and that is the question of securing the thing we desire for our
immediate use.
The large, magnificent pecan trees growing on the banks of the beautiful
Ohio year after year became a matter of the deepest interest to me. I
have seen the Ohio surging swiftly through their branches in the winter,
have seen them withstand the storms and vicissitudes of snow and ice and
raging floods; and as the spring came on I have beheld them, with more
or less surprise and pleasure, laden with blossoms. As summer advanced,
I watched the growing clusters of delicious nuts; and as the nuts began
to ripen in the fall, I soon learned to pick out the best bearing trees.
It was not a matter of science or unselfish research that enabled me to
determine the fact that some trees rarely ever missed a crop, while
others were very uncertain; that some nuts were large, thin-shelled, and
of fine flavor, while others were small and hard to crack, and otherwise
undesirable; that some of the trees ripened their nuts early, long
before frost, while others seemed to hang on and resent the coming of
autumn with all their might. At the age of nine, I could take many
different varieties of Indiana seedling pecans, separate them, and
locate the trees from whence they came, and give the essential points of
their bearing record. I could also tell whether the respective owners
watched them very carefully, kept a dog, or lived at a safe distance
away, all of which points were just as essential so far as I was
concerned as the size of the nut and its quality. The pecan captured me
early in life, and I have been a willing victim ever since. My interest
in this nut of late years is based on more scientific principles, but I
doubt if the facts arrived at are any more reliable than the facts which
came from the simple desire to appease a boyish appetite with the best
nut that nature has ever produced.
When I was about fourteen years old I came into personal possession of
twelve acres of land which had descended to me from my father's estate.
The land was almost valueless for general cropping purposes, but I had
already, at that age, determined something of the value of a pecan
orchard, and I proceeded to gather nuts from the best trees in that
section, and the following spring planted the whole twelve acres in
pecans. I knew, however, that even though the ground was not very
productive it would have to be cultivated that summer, so I planted the
pecans around stumps where the young trees would be protected. My
information as to the value of pecans was accurate and unerring;
however, there were several things I had not taken into consideration.
First, that a pecan that is kept in the dry all winter is very slow to
germinate in the spring, and in fact the percentage of them that does
germinate is very small. Second, that the field mice have an abiding
hunger for pecans. Third, that the pecan does not come true to seed, and
that an orchard of seedlings is of very questionable value. The first
two facts, which I failed to take into consideration--that is, the poor
germinating qualities of a dry pecan, and the appetite of the field
mice, relieved me from the embarrassment of the third, for it is
needless to say that this attempt made twenty-five years ago was a
complete failure, and for the time being discouraged my ambitions in
this direction. But after many years they revived sufficiently to
stimulate me to action again in the line of pecan culture.
I mention the above facts merely to show my credibility as a witness on
this subject. Being a lawyer by profession, I have learned long since
that the value of one's opinion, and especially the value of testimony
is directly in proportion to one's knowledge of and interest in the
subject matter at issue. Therefore, trusting that I have sufficiently
established my credibility, at least to my own satisfaction, I shall
proceed to make some observations relative to nut culture in the North.
First, let me say that I most heartily endorse the line of work
undertaken by our Association--that is, the work of collecting and
diffusing information in reference to nut culture that will be valuable
to the prospective grower. Our southern brethren have very largely
passed this stage in nut work in the South. They still have many
problems before them, but the fundamental problems of the determination
and propagation of the most desirable varieties of pecans have been
already worked out and they are producing in their nurseries hundreds of
thousands of fine budded and grafted pecan trees. There is such a lack
of information on this subject in the North that it is indeed opportune
that our Association should at the beginning of the interest in nut
culture in that section take up these various question and give the
public the benefit of our experience and information in reference to
them. There are yet many people who think that you cannot transplant a
pecan tree, and that if you cut the tap root it will not produce, while
the fact is that the pecan tree can be transplanted with almost as much
success as can fruit trees. Two years ago I transplanted a number of
cherry trees. At the same time I transplanted some pecan trees, and I
had a higher percentage of loss among the cherries than among the
pecans. There are some who believe that it is even a benefit to cut the
tap root. I have never belonged to the school which endorses cutting the
roots of any tree to accelerate its growth, except, of course, where it
is necessary to take up a tree and reset it, in which case it is
necessary to cut some of the roots. It is unquestionably true that if
the roots are cut too severely the tree receives too great a shock, but
the pecan tree seems to recover as quickly as any other variety of tree.
However, there are hundreds of farmers today who would not undertake to
raise pecans, for the reason that they think they cannot be
transplanted. Also, in every community where the pecan is native, can be
seen many seedling trees ranging anywhere from ten-to twenty-five years
old that have never borne a nut. These trees are pointed out by the
general public as horrible examples of the uselessness of attempted
pecan culture. Near my home at Boonville, Ind., is a row of seedling
pecan trees planted in a garden. The trees are now old enough to bear a
half bushel of pecans every year, but so far as I know they have never
borne a nut. The general public throughout the North and Middle West
have not yet learned that the average seedling pecan is an uncertain
quantity, grows slowly, bears irregularly, if at all, and probably
inferior nuts. However, once in a while, nature, through her wonderful
workings, has produced a tree that bears large crops of fine nuts
regularly, and when the seedling pecan is grafted or budded from this
kind of tree the trees so propagated take on the qualities of the parent
and begin bearing very early. I have frequently taken pictures of small
pecan trees not over three feet high, each bearing a cluster of large,
fine nuts. This, of course, is unusual, but shows the tendency of the
grafted or budded tree. I mention the above two points not for the
purpose at this point of entering into a discussion of the propagation
of the pecan, but to show the necessity for general enlightenment on the
possibilities, and to dispel some of the bug-a-boos that exist in the
minds of many persons. Those of you here who have engaged in the various
phases of nut culture may think these points primitive and unnecessary,
and they are, perhaps, unnecessary to the expert, but it is my pleasure
every summer to spend considerable time in the rural sections of the
country, and it is surprising how very little is known, even by our most
enlightened farmers, on the subject of nut culture. I have made many
trips throughout the South, and I find the farmers in that section have
read the various proceedings of the National Nut Growers' Association
until a knowledge of nut culture throughout the South is becoming very
general. It is, therefore, the duty and the province of the Northern Nut
Growers' Association to diffuse as much information as possible among
the farmers of the North and Middle West on this subject.
This is important for many reasons. At a recent meeting of the National
Nut Growers' Association held at Mobile, Ala., in discussing the subject
of the Extension of the Pecan Area, I used the following language:
"In my opinion nothing is more important to the permanency of the pecan
industry than the development of the pecan area in different parts of
the country, and having orchards cultivated under as many different
conditions as are consistent with the known probable successful area.
This is important, for the reason that this more than anything else will
insure a supply of pecans each year, and this will develop a public
dependency upon this most valuable nut. Nothing can be more detrimental
to any industry than a spasmodic and irregular supply of the product
upon which that industry depends."
I quote this language for the reason that the culture of the pecan in
the North is just now in its infancy, and it is peculiarly the function
of our organization to get before the public the essential facts upon
which its success depends. We are under great obligation for the work
that has been done in the South and the information that is made
available through the National Nut Growers' Association. Much of this is
valuable in the North, but there are a great many of the essential
points that have yet to be worked out, as the climatic conditions make
it impossible to follow exactly in all cases the line of work that has
been done in the South.
The fake promoter and the crooked nurseryman will no doubt come in for
their inning in the North, as they have in the South, and the public
will be imposed upon by inferior and "doctored" trees, and all sorts of
get-rich-quick orchard schemes will no doubt make their advent
throughout the North; but it is very probably that our Association,
through its proper committee, having in mind the experiences of the
South, can keep closely in touch with the general work that is going on
and have on hand sufficient information to protect those who will take
the trouble to make inquiry. Nothing in the horticultural line is more
satisfactory, more beautiful or more valuable than a fine young grove of
grafted or budded pecan trees of good varieties; but like all other good
things, it will attract the counterfeiter.
Coming now more specifically to the subject which has been assigned to
me by the committee--that is, "The Indiana Pecan and My Experience in
Nut Culture," I want to explain what is meant by the "Indiana pecan."
It is true, of course, that some of the very finest of the northern
pecans have originated in Indiana, yet I prefer to speak of pecans in
that whole section of the country as belonging to the "Indiana group."
Taking Evansville, Ind., as the center, there grow, within a radius of
fifty miles, in Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky, many thousands of wild
pecan trees; and after an investigation extending through a number of
years, there have been selected from these various wild groves a few
trees from which it has been deemed desirable to propagate. In this
connection I want to mention the valuable work that has been done along
this line by Mason J. Niblack, of Vincennes, Ind.; Prof. C. G. Woodbury,
of Lafayette, Ind.; R. L. McCoy, of Lake, Ind.; and J. F. Wilkinson, of
Rockport, Ind. These men, with the assistance of others throughout the
State, have for several years been making investigations of these pecans
with a view of determining the most desirable varieties from which to
propagate. It has been my privilege to have the benefit of the
information gathered by these gentlemen, which, added to my own
experience, has given me a fairly comprehensive view of the desirable
nuts in that section, and, as the geographical center of the present
known desirable varieties seems to be about Evansville, Ind., I will,
for matter of convenience, designate them as belonging to the "Indiana
Group."
We have been able to determine with some certainly the desirability of
six or seven varieties of pecans for propagating purposes. We have a
number of others under observation. In investigating a pecan for
propagating purposes, it is necessary to examine it from two
standpoints, first, the tree qualities, and second, the qualities of the
nut itself.
The tree must be of a thrifty nature, a rapid grower, not especially
subject to any particular diseases, must bear regularly, and the crops
must be of a good average as to quantity. When observing a great number
of pecan trees, it soon becomes apparent that some varieties grow much
faster than others. This is first noticed in the nursery rows, and it is
highly desirable to select not only those varieties which grow fast, but
even the best growing trees of any particular variety. Most of the trees
from which propagating is done are generally full grown, and it is
sometimes difficult to tell from observing them in the woods what their
growing qualities are, yet it is occasionally apparent from observing a
tree that it is thrifty and strong, while another tree may look entirely
different. The growing quality, however, does not usually become
apparent until after they are propagated and put under proper conditions
of cultivation.
The bearing record of a tree can be determined only by observing the
tree for a number of years and measuring its crops. There are many trees
that are almost infallible producers, but some years the crop is
lighter than others, although it is not probable that an orchard, even
from one of these unusual bearers, can be obtained which will not
occasionally miss a crop.
The influence of the stock upon the scion is something that has not yet
been fully worked out, and for that reason it is impossible to say why
the grafted or budded tree does not always take on the bearing qualities
of the parent, although it is pretty safe to say that as a rule its
qualities are very closely approximated, and by careful selection it is
possible to get grafted and budded trees that begin bearing very early
and bear with a great degree of regularity.
In visiting a tree while the nuts are green, one can get some idea as to
its bearing quality by the number and size of the clusters hanging on
the limbs. A tree that is a poor bearer, or bears only a fair crop,
usually bears its nuts in clusters of one to three, while a good bearer
produces clusters of from three to six. I have seen as many as eight
nuts in a cluster in the South, and have seen some clusters of seven on
some of our Indiana trees, but as a rule good bearing trees of the
Indiana group have clusters of about four to five nuts each.
After the tree qualities have been determined, it is then necessary to
consider the nut itself. The nut must be of fair size, of good flavor,
thin to medium thickness of shell, well filled, and of good cracking
quality--that is, the conformation of the shell and kernel must be such
that a large percentage of the kernels can be taken out as whole halves,
and the convolutions of the kernels must be wide enough that the
partitions do not adhere to them. When all of these qualities, both of
the tree and nut, can be combined, we then have a desirable tree from
which to propagate, and it is very surprising how few come up to the
standard. In one wild grove in Kentucky, on the banks of the Ohio River
just across from Indiana, near the mouth of the Green River, there are
nearly 300 acres of wild pecan trees. In this grove are perhaps more
than a thousand trees, and so far as I have been able to determine up to
date, there are but three trees out of the whole grove that come near my
notion of the standard.
Sometimes, however, a tree or a nut may grade up so high on some one
point as to make it a desirable variety from which to propagate, even
though it does not grade high on other desirable points. For example,
one of the most desirable southern pecans, perhaps, considering only the
nut itself, is the "Schley," yet the tree is reputed to be of very
medium bearing quality. The nut is so very fine, however, that no
southern grove of pecans is complete without a fair percentage of
"Schley" trees. On the other hand, the "Stuart," another southern
variety, has not ranked nearly so high as the "Schley," considering only
the nut; and yet there are probably twice as many "Stuarts" being put
out in the South today as any other variety, for the simple reason that
it is a good-sized nut and the tree has a very fine bearing record. All
these things have to be taken into consideration by those of us who are
undertaking to propagate northern varieties.
There is unquestionably a large area of country extending approximately
from the latitude of Atlanta, Ga., to that of Terre Haute, Ind., in
which there is a great field for experimenting with the northern
varieties of pecans. It is a great mistake to undertake to bring the
southern varieties too far north. A majority of the finest of the
southern varieties originated on the Gulf Coast, and it is true that
they can be brought a considerable distance north of there, but I have
always doubted their successful growth with any degree of certainty of
crops north of Atlanta, Ga.; for I think it is pretty well conceded that
if one undertakes to crowd the northern limits with the southern
varieties of pecans, they become uncertain in their bearing habits and
the pecans are much smaller and not as well filled. On the other hand,
it is my opinion that the northern pecan can be taken south of its
origin with complete safety. The longer growing season will probably add
to the certainty of the crops and the size of the nuts. It is also very
important for the grower of these northern varieties of pecans to
recognize the fact that they cannot be taken too far north of the
location of the parent tree. The limits, however, both of the northern
and southern varieties are not arbitrary, as they depend very much upon
proximity to the ocean and other moderating influences. For example, it
is very probable that pecans can be cultivated much farther north close
to either the Atlantic or Pacific Coast than they can in the Middle
West. All of these things remain yet to be determined, but it is
important to distinguish between the setting of orchards for commercial
purposes and the setting of trees for purely experimental purposes.
There is unquestionably a great section of the country comprising
approximately, as I have said, the territory lying between the latitude
of Atlanta, Ga., and Terre Haute, Ind., in which pecans can be
commercially produced successfully. In the near future I expect to see
pecan orchards of these northern varieties producing fine nuts and
bearing as regularly in the northern sections as they do in the South.
The prospective orchardist, however, must look well to the varieties
which he selects and the latitude of the parent tree from whence they
come and the geographical conditions that influence the weather.
I have referred to Evansville, Ind., as being about the center of the
Indiana Group. The average fall frost period at Evansville is about the
20th of October. The average period of the last spring frost is about
April the 9th. This will serve somewhat as a guide to the prospective
commercial orchardist. However, most of the trees of the Indiana Group
do not pollenate until about the 10th of May, and the great majority of
them ripen their nuts by the 15th of October, and several of the good
trees ripen their nuts by the 1st of October, though they usually are
not gathered till later.
The northernmost tree, so far as I know, that has been deemed worthy of
observation is the "Hodge," which is native in Illinois, about
eighty-five miles north of Evansville, Ind., and a few miles southwest
of Terre Haute, Ind. It is one of the largest of the northern varieties,
and is a fair nut, but does not grade high in filling qualities, and the
bearing record of the parent tree has not yet been determined. The tree
is crooked and very unprepossessing looking, and stands in the woods
where it has a very poor chance. When I visited it this year, it had a
very light crop of nuts, but I did not condemn it, for the reason that
any tree growing under the same conditions could not be expected to bear
very well. I expect to observe the tree for several years in the future,
and determine further as to its bearing record. It is possible that
trees propagated from this variety, under favorable conditions, may
prove to be good bearers.
The next northernmost trees of the desirable varieties are the "Indiana"
and "Busseron," standing about 100 yards apart, west of Oaktown, Knox
County, Indiana, about sixty-five miles north of Evansville. Mr. Mason
J. Niblack, of Vincennes, Ind., has had these trees under observation
for a number of years, and it is due to his interest that they were
brought to the attention of the public. The "Busseron" is an old tree
that is reputed to have a very fine bearing record. A few years ago, the
owner of this tree cut all the top out of it, and this crippled the tree
very badly and set it back for quite a while. When I visited it last
August, it had put up new growth, and the few remaining old limbs that
had been left on it were hanging full of clusters containing four and
five nuts each. "The Indiana," standing a short distance away, is a
comparatively young tree, and is thought to be a seedling of the
"Busseron," as the two nuts resemble one another very much. The
"Indiana" has been cut very severely for grafting wood the last few
years, and it is therefore difficult to give very authentic information
as to its bearing record. It appears, however, to be a very promising
tree, and when I visited it in August it had a fair crop of nuts. The
clusters were not large--mostly two and three each. The tree looked very
thrifty, and from the best information that I have been able to gather
in reference to it, I consider it a desirable variety from which to
propagate. My choice of the two trees is the "Busseron," although the
"Indiana" has made an excellent showing, considering the severe prunings
for grafting wood.
Coming down near the center of the Indiana Group, we have the
"Warrick," growing in Warrick County, Indiana, which took the prize at
the pecan show at Mt. Vernon, Ind., in 1909, and is a fair nut of more
than average size. It is reputed to have a good bearing record, but I
have not yet had opportunity to completely verify this.
In Posey County, Ind., near Evansville, are hundreds of wild pecan
trees, many of which produce good nuts. One of them, from which I
propagated last year under the name of the "Hoosier," is a very prolific
tree. The nut itself is of medium size, beautiful color and thin shell,
but the kernel qualities are not nearly so desirable as many of the
other of our Indiana pecans, and it does not take a very high rank in
the estimation of some of our observers. I visited the tree in August,
1910, and at that time it had one of the most bountiful crops of nuts
that I had ever seen growing on a tree. It was hanging full of clusters
containing five and six nuts each. I visited it again an October and
found that the nuts had ripened very early. This nut took the prize at
the Mt. Vernon pecan show in 1910.
Crossing the river from Indiana, we have in the Major woods at the mouth
of Green River, nine miles from Evansville, three desirable pecans--the
"Greenriver," the "Major," and the "Hinton." The "Major" and the
"Hinton" have been propagated by Mr. William N. Roper, at Petersburg,
Va., for some time. They are round, well filled nuts, and are considered
by confectioners as the most desirable type of pecan for many of the
confectionery purposes. The "Major" is the best cracking pecan that I
have ever seen, either North or South, and is a regular bearer, but not
as high in flavor as some other varieties. The "Hinton" is an
oval-shaped nut, having a corrugated shell, of fine cracking and kernel
qualities, but I have not yet satisfactorily determined its bearing
record.
The "Greenriver" is a little larger than either of the above nuts, and
is one of the very finest medium-sized pecans that I have found. The
tree is reported not to have missed a crop in eleven years, although the
crop this year was very light, probably owing to the fact that it was
cut pretty severely last year for grafting wood. All three of these
varieties coming from the Major woods at the mouth of Green River give
excellent promise, with perhaps the "Greenriver" in the lead for general
qualities.
Down on the banks of the Wabash in Posey County, Indiana, and across on
the Illinois side, are several very fine, large, beautiful varieties of
pecans, which Mr. R. L. McCoy, of Lake, Ind., and myself are observing.
Several of these pecans are as large as many of the standard southern
varieties, and when I visited the trees this year in August, they were
bearing good crops of nuts. We have not yet named these varieties, but
expect to do so after we have observed them the coming year. There are
one or two varieties in this neighborhood that may take rank over all
the northern pecans that have been discovered. It is no longer a
question of finding nuts in the North of good size, for we have already
located some that rank well with many of the standard southern varieties
in size, and one of the surprising and favorable points of the northern
pecan is their fine filling qualities and high flavor. When placed on
the scales their weight is most surprising to those who have not tested
them.
The problem before the prospective pecan grower in the North is to
secure good trees of these most desirable varieties. Seedling trees are
not worth setting out. Until last year the successful propagation of
pecans in the North was doubted by many, but the experiments conducted
by myself and Mr. R. L. McCoy, at Lake, Ind., who worked in conjunction
with me, have demonstrated that they can be successfully propagated. A
number of points, however, must be carefully observed in this work.
First, in reference to grafting: The grafting should be done on northern
two-year-old stocks. One-year-old stocks can be used, but two-year-olds
are thought to be better. The stocks must be grown from northern
seedlings. There is no place in the North for the southern stock, and
right here let me suggest that the individual who buys northern trees
grafted on southern stocks or southern trees grafted on northern stocks
is throwing his money away. I set fifty trees last fall of the "Indiana"
grafted on southern stocks, and the first freeze that came promptly
killed them all. They put up a few new sprouts last summer, but finally
the roots rotted, and this fall I dug them up. I have a neighbor who put
out an orchard of southern grown trees. Some of them seemed to grow all
right for six or seven years, and then froze down to the ground, and so
far as I have been able to find out, experiments with southern trees in
the North have been practically a waste of time and money. So it is
necessary to bear in mind that these northern varieties must be grafted
or budded on trees grown from northern seed.
The proper time for grafting in the Evansville latitude is the last week
in March and the first week in April. The scions must be cut from
thrifty growing trees and must be used immediately after they are cut.
Experience has shown that scions kept in cold storage or stratified in
sand for any length of time lose a very large part of their vitality,
and success with them is very limited in that section. Last year I cut
most of my scions in November and December, stratified them in sand
until spring, and my percentage of success with them was very small,
while on the other hand Mr. McCoy used scions directly off the tree and
had a satisfactory stand. I am of the opinion that it will be proven
later that the best method of grafting in the North is to graft above
the ground and tie paper bags over the scions for two or three weeks
until they start into growth. Our experiments so far have been confined
to root-grafting, and while it has proven fairly successful under proper
conditions, yet I believe that grafting above the ground will prove more
successful. We have not done much budding in our section, but what we
have done gives fair promise of success, and it may be that this will
prove to be the best method of propagating nut trees in the North. In
grafting we use both one and two-year-old wood, but one-year-old wood,
if it is thrifty, is more desirable, although it is better to use
thrifty two-year-old wood than to use weak scions of one year's growth.
Either one or two-year-old growth can be used successfully.
My experiments and adventures in the work of propagating pecan trees
were made for the purpose of securing enough of the desirable varieties
of these trees to put out an orchard for myself. I found, upon inquiry,
that it was impossible to buy hardy northern trees, and furthermore that
but few of the desirable varieties had been propagated. In fact, I knew
that some of the best ones had never been brought to the attention of
the nurserymen, and being more anxious to risk my own judgment on this
than that of anyone else, I started in to produce my own trees. Up to
date I have accumulated a vast amount of experience and have a few trees
to show for my work, but I would not take many times the cost and
trouble of my work, for the information I have acquired. I have also
sent to some of my friends bud-wood from our best trees for the purpose
of getting these varieties propagated for the benefit of those who
desire to grow them. My suggestion is that unless one is looking for the
experience and enjoys a great deal of hard work and some expense, he had
better buy his trees from some reliable person who has successfully
propagated them.
If the farmers in the latitude of the good varieties of pecans were to
put out ten to twenty acres on some corner of their farm and cultivate
the trees properly, they would soon be surprised to find that this small
piece of ground would be worth more money than all the rest of their
farm, and they would leave not only a valuable estate to their children,
but also a monument by which they would be remembered for more than a
hundred years after they had passed from the toils of this earth. Ten
acres of pecan trees can be cultivated at less expense annually than ten
acres of corn, and if the grove consists of the right varieties and has
been properly cultivated, it will be worth not less than $500 per acre
in ten years. In fact, I do not know of a single grove of pecan trees in
the United States--and I have seen many--of the right varieties that has
been properly cultivated that can be bought for $500 per acre at ten
years of age, yet the principal reason that this very thing has not been
done by the farmers throughout the pecan belt is because they have not
had sufficient information on the subject and have had no means of
acquiring it.
I do not want to close this long paper without saying something about
walnuts and hickory nuts in Indiana. While it is true that the pecan is
unquestionably the most attractive and valuable nut that grows in the
world, yet there is much profit and satisfaction in the culture of
walnuts and hickories. In southern Indiana we have some very fine
varieties of the shagbark, and I am making some experiments in
propagating it. One of the advantages of this nut is that it will grow
far into the north. In fact, I have had some specimens of very beautiful
shagbarks sent me by Dr. D. S. Sager, from Ontario, Canada. The shagbark
is a slower growing tree than the pecan, but when properly cultivated
shows a very satisfactory growth.
I am also experimenting with the propagation of the Persian (English)
walnut, and so far have had very satisfactory results. I am trying some
of the California varieties--the "Franquette" and "Parisienne"
especially--and last spring I grafted a number of them on the wild
seedling black walnut and they grew as much as four feet in height
during the summer. There are several very fine varieties of the Persian
walnut that are hardy throughout our latitude, and when grafted on the
native black walnut stocks, make very satisfactory growth. I have had
several Persian walnut trees under observation in Washington, close to
where I live, and have found that some of these trees bear good crops of
very fine walnuts. I cannot make this paper long enough to go into the
details of this subject as it has been discussed here by others who know
more about it than I. I merely desire to mention the fact that so far as
our experiments have gone in Indiana up to date with the Persian walnut,
everything seems to indicate that it can be very successfully propagated
and grown there, provided the right varieties are selected; but with
this, as with all other nut trees, the prospective orchardist must make
very careful selection of the varieties which he plants.
In closing, I want to add just a few words more as to the value and
beauty of nut trees. It is very hard to overstate either if the trees
are properly cared for. A friend of mine recently asked me how early a
pecan tree would bear, and how big it would grow within a certain time.
I told him that it depended altogether upon who owned the tree. Nothing
adds so much to the value of a home or to a farm as beautiful trees, and
nothing indicates more the intelligence and taste of the person who owns
a home or farm than the character of the trees surrounding it. In taking
a trip through the country, it is very painful to notice how little
attention has been given to trees, and I take it that this is due to the
lack of information on this subject. A house can be built in a very
short time. It can be furnished beautifully if one has taste and money.
The science of mechanics can do much toward making an attractive place
in which to dwell, but after all, the home that is remembered and
admired, both by its occupants and by others, is the home surrounded by
beautiful trees that bring forth their leaves and blossoms and fruit to
please the eye and the taste and temper the heat of summer. These cannot
be bought with mere money nor made in a day, but when placed there with
care and intelligence come forth with surprising rapidity and beauty and
not only add manifold value to the home and farm, but bespeak for some
one a standard of intelligence and nobility that is better than great
riches; for he who plants and cares for a tree is of the true, the
beautiful and the good.
* * * * *
President Morris: The paper is now open for discussion.
Professor Lake: I'd like to ask Mr. Littlepage a question. What is the
condition of the wood of those large growths of walnuts?
Mr. Littlepage: When I observed it in November, it was ripening off very
nicely. The average frost period for that latitude is about the
twentieth of October, and we had had quite a number of very hard
frosts,--in fact, there had been some ice. It had not been injured.
Professor Lake: That is remarkable.
Mr. Littlepage: I have pictures here of those, taken the twentieth of
June. There was perhaps three feet of growth at that time. They quit
growing about the middle of August down there, and to that I attribute
very largely the fact that the wood ripened up.
Professor Craig: What is your minimum temperature?
Mr. Littlepage: I have seen the thermometer ten degrees below zero. I
have seen the Ohio River frozen over so thick that for a month at
Rockport the wagons could go across the river on ice. In fact, a
threshing machine was hauled over. I don't know how low the thermometer
got. I imagine it went lower than ten degrees.
President Morris: I have seen it lower still on Persian walnuts and
pecans. It is the early starting of sap in spring that hurts mine most.
Mr. Littlepage: The pecans differ from native hickory. The native
hickories in that section opened their buds and began to show strong
flow of sap long before the pecans gave any indication whatever. Some of
the pecans there seem to be very slow about starting sap. Very few
pollinate before the tenth of May.
President Morris: My trees had to stand twenty-eight degrees one night
only, but they have had to stand twenty sometimes, and frequently
several degrees below.
Mr. Pomeroy: I want to ask if he thinks he will have any difficulty in
transplanting those black walnuts seven or eight years old?
Mr. Littlepage: That suggests a very painful subject. I have had that
very thing in mind. They stand six or seven feet apart. I have got to
settle that very question some of these times.
Mr. Pomeroy: I might suggest that you begin the fall before, and take a
whole lot of time in digging around the trees, then leave them till
nearly spring, then finish the transplanting before the ground has a
chance to thaw entirely.
President Morris: I believe that is a good point, if you will do your
cutting early, and let the callus form well during the winter. Let us
hear more about that particular point.
Mr. Reed: In view of the fact that this Association is trying to rectify
as many mistakes as it can, and the fact that it is looked upon as an
establisher of precedents, I make the motion that all of our references
to the nut just under discussion be to it as the Persian walnut, and not
as the English walnut.
Mr. Pomeroy: I second that motion. (Carried.)
President Morris: Let us hear from Mr. Roper.
Mr. Roper: I don't think I know much about the Indiana pecan trees,
except what we have been doing in Virginia with them. I have discussed
some of the results in the paper on pecan trees for planting in the
North.
* * * * *
President Morris: Committee appointments are as follows: Committee on
Competition, Messrs. Reed, Littlepage, and myself, _ex-officio_.
Committee on General Exhibits, Messrs. Barron and Roper. Committee on
Resolutions, Messrs. Reed, Littlepage, and Schempp. Committee on
Membership, Messrs. Deming, Lake, and Rush. Nominating Committee,
Professor Craig and Col. Van Duzee.
Professor Lake: Does that complete all the committees?
President Morris: That is all on the list here.
Professor Lake: I would like to suggest one, because I think it will
materially help the matter of bringing the nut subject before the people
in an effective manner,--a committee on score card. That is at the basis
of competitions, and when the nut grower gets acquainted with the score
card, and knows that is going to be the basis of judging the
competitions, he knows there is going to be something doing.
President Morris: That is a rather important point. I would like to have
the matter discussed.
Professor Craig: I think the idea is an excellent one. There is no way
in which we can analyze the qualities of fruit better than by having a
systematic method of discussing its different characters. The score card
does that,--separates each one and makes them stand for what they are
worth. In order to unify methods of judging used by the different
societies, a score card which this society might develop and recommend
would be a very valuable thing as a guide for nut growers here in the
Northeast. The National Nut Growers' Association has a score card for
pecans, and a score card has been recommended by the Department of
Agriculture. I am not sure that score cards have been provided for the
Persian walnut and for the hickories, and our northern types. I think
Mr. Lake's suggestion is entirely in order and well worthy of
consideration.
President Morris: It appeals to me at once. I think we would put Mr.
Lake and Professor Craig on a score card committee.
Professor Craig: I think a score card can be presented, subject to
revision, which will answer the present demand.
FRIDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 15, 1911.
President Morris: The meeting is called to order. The Secretary will
read the proposed amendments to the constitution. I believe there is no
provision in the by-laws for making such amendment. I don't know what
the customary rule is in the matter. I presume we could submit it to a
vote.
Doctor Deming: Under the heading "Committees," the following is
proposed: "The Association shall appoint standing committees of three
members each to consider and report on the following topics at each
annual meeting: first, on promising seedlings; second, on nomenclature;
third, on hybrids; fourth, on membership; fifth, on press and
publication."
Professor Craig: I move the adoption of this amendment to our
constitution. (Seconded. Carried.)
Doctor Deming: Under the head of "Meetings," the amendment is as
follows: "The Association shall hold an annual meeting, to be held at
the time and place to be selected by the Executive Committee."
Professor Lake: Some way or another, I feel that I oppose that attitude.
I believe a delegate will often go to a convention with the idea of
presenting views upon holding it at some specific place. It seems to me
we ought to give the annual meeting an opportunity to designate the
place of meeting. Some people say they will pack a convention. If they
are sufficiently enthusiastic to pack a convention they are entitled to
have the meeting. I have heard an expression from one or two members
that they would like to see it at a certain place. It is true they can
present their views to the Executive Committee, but if the Executive
Committee is not present at this place, it is necessary for them to make
another trip, or appeal to them by correspondence. I would like to have
that put in such a way that the annual meeting might select the place of
meeting.
President Morris: It is a matter for consideration. Is there any further
discussion on this point?
Doctor Deming: It seems to me that the question of the selection of the
meeting place is a matter for very deliberate consideration, and it
isn't always that a question of this kind will get deliberate
consideration in a meeting which acts very often without considering all
sides of the question. It seems to me that, while it would be advisable
to have the place of the next meeting discussed by the Association as a
whole, the decision as to the place of meeting might very safely be left
to the Executive Committee.
Mr. Littlepage: I think, as a general rule, it is pretty wise to give
some latitude in these matters, for the reason that conditions may
develop from time to time which make it desirable to have some
flexibility as to the place of meeting. I think, especially with the
able Executive Committee we now have, it could safely be left to the
Executive Committee.
Professor Craig: Since Professor Lake has spoken, I have a good deal of
sympathy with his attitude, and I am rather inclined to think it would
be wise to modify that clause in such a way as to give the meeting the
privilege, in case there was an overwhelming element in favor of a
certain place, of selecting the next place for the convention; and I
would suggest a modification of that clause to this effect, that the
place of meeting shall be selected at the annual meeting, or by the
Executive Committee subsequently thereto. That would give the membership
an opportunity of having a word in it, and would open the door so that
it could be considered at the annual meeting; but in the event of this
not taking place then, it would fall to the Executive Committee to
select the meeting place. I move that as an amendment to the proposed
clause.
Professor Lake: I support Professor Craig's motion.
Professor Craig: If my seconder will approve, I will offer that as a
substitute instead of an amendment.
Professor Lake: I accept it. (Carried.)
Doctor Deming: Under the head of "Officers," the following amendment is
proposed: "There shall be a president, a vice-president, a
secretary-treasurer, and an executive committee of five persons, of
which latter the president, vice-president, and secretary shall be
members, and a vice-president from each state represented in the
membership of the Association."
Professor Lake: I move that the clause be accepted.
Mr. Rush: I second the motion. (Carried.)
Doctor Deming: Under the heading of "Election of Officers," this
addition is proposed: "The President shall appoint a nominating
committee of three persons at the annual meeting, whose duty it shall
be to report to the meeting a list of officers for the ensuing year."
Professor Lake: I don't want to be an objector. I simply want to file a
protest against this method of election in an organization, on general
principles. I am opposed to anything that looks like continuing an
administration. This doesn't give an opportunity for election from the
floor. It might be so amended, that an annual meeting may elect from the
floor. I am thoroughly in sympathy with popular government. I have seen
a good deal of this, and I would like to get away from the sentiment of
anything of that kind by allowing nominations from the floor.
Doctor Deming: How would it be if the nominating committee, instead of
being appointed by the President, were appointed in some elective way by
the meeting as a whole?
Professor Lake: I accept Doctor Deming's suggestion. That is a most
excellent way of eliminating both sides of the controversy. I would like
to put that definitely into form, that we have a committee of
five,--that is sufficient for the present,--that a committee of five be
elected at the annual meeting for the purpose of nominating officers for
the subsequent year. I put that as a motion.
Mr. Rush: I second that motion. (Carried.)
President Morris: The committee for the nomination of new officers will
consist of Professor Craig and Colonel Van Duzee. This other committee
of five, as I understand it, is not to be appointed now.
Doctor Deming: The only thing that I have now is the proposition that we
honor Mr. Henry Hales by electing him an honorary member of the
Association. I would like to move that Mr. Henry Hales of Ridgewood, New
Jersey, be elected an honorary member of this Association.
Mr. Littlepage: I second that motion. (Carried.)
President Morris: On the competition, the committee consisted of Mr.
Reed, Mr. Littlepage, and myself. Mr. Littlepage has specimens in for
competition, and I will appoint Mr. Roper in his place. The next order
of business will be the paper on experiences in propagation, by
Professor Close.
THE BENCH ROOT-GRAFTING OF PERSIAN WALNUTS AND PECANS.
BY C. P. CLOSE, U. S. DEPT, OF AGRICULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The results of my bench root-grafting of Persian walnuts and pecans at
the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station in 1911 were not as
satisfactory as might be wished, partly owing, at least, to the
unusually long and hot drought which was disastrous in many respects in
this section of the country.
PURPOSE AND METHOD OF THE EXPERIMENT.
The purpose of this experimental work was to devise some method of
procedure in the bench grafting of nut trees which would be reliable and
practical, especially if done during January, February, and March. The
whip or tongue method with variation in thinness of tongue to make
closely fitting unions, was employed. For the Persian walnut cions,
black walnut, butternut and Persian walnut roots were used, and for the
pecan cions, hardy Indiana and ordinary southern pecan seedlings, whole
root and piece root, were used. Part of the grafts were planted outdoors
in nursery rows as soon as made and part were placed in soil or decayed
sawdust in a cool greenhouse. This was for the purpose of determining
whether or not it would prove advantageous to go to the extra expense
and trouble of placing the grafts under greenhouse conditions until
April or May. Ground beds were used and thus bottom heat was not
applied.
PERSIAN WALNUTS.
There were 287 grafts of San Jose, Concord and Franquette Persian
walnuts, made from February 15 to April 4, which were planted in nursery
rows very soon after being made. Only 40 of these were alive in October,
the best results being obtained with San Jose on black walnut stocks.
Sixty-four walnut grafts were placed in decayed sawdust in the
greenhouse in February and March and of these 22 were alive early in May
when they were taken out.
PECANS.
The pecan grafts, set in nursery rows as soon as made, numbered 474 and
consisted of the following varieties: Mantura, Appomattox, Frotscher,
Moneymaker, Van Deman, Stuart, and Pabst. Only one of these, a Pabst on
a piece root, lived during the season.
The grafts which were placed in the greenhouse gave pretty good results
as shown by the following data given respectively under the headings
"Earth Bed" and "Decayed Sawdust."
EARTH BED.
Jan. 14. 10 Moneymaker on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 8 alive in May.
10 Moneymaker on Indiana stocks, waxed 4 alive in May.
Feb. 14. 10 Mantura on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 8 alive in May.
15 Moneymaker on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 11 alive in May.
Mar. 8. 33 Stuart on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 20 alive in May.
30 Stuart on Indiana piece roots, not waxed. 15 alive in May.
___ ___
Totals 108 66
DECAYED SAWDUST.
Feb. 14. 25 Mantura on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 6 alive in May.
Mar. 8. 12 Stuart on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 12 alive in May.
23 Stuart on Indiana stocks, not waxed. 21 alive in May.
___ ___
Totals 60 39
These figures show that 61 per cent of those in the earth bed and 65 per
cent of those in the decayed sawdust, were alive when they were taken up
early in May. Some had made a growth of from two to eight inches and
were fine little trees. Most of these transplanted grafts were set in
nursery rows and nearly all succumbed to the extreme drought of the
season.
CONCLUSIONS.
The season was so extremely dry that the practice of planting root
grafts as soon as made did not prove successful. However, work done in
other years indicated that in normal seasons this may be done with
considerable success. Placing the grafts in a greenhouse either in earth
or decayed sawdust gave encouraging results, but when transplanted in
the nursery the grafts could not withstand the unusually dry and hot
weather. The black walnut proved to be the best stock for the Persian
walnut and two buds to the cion are required. Grafting wax should not be
used if the union of cion and stock is to be covered with earth; this
point was clearly proven in previous years.
[The foregoing paper, read by title, was the subject of a verbal
report by Prof. Lake, who said further:]
Prof. Close performed considerable work in topgrafting and budding on
three and four year old stocks. The top grafts were a failure. The buds
survived, and were in good, strong condition October fifteenth. That was
on Persian walnut and pecan, about half and half.
Mr. Pomeroy: Did he bud on black walnut stock?
Professor Lake: Yes. It was a little higher than a man, and had been cut
back to about three feet. The crown grafting was fairly successful, but
would have been much more successful, had they used something to cover
the grafts.
Mr. Pomeroy: How long should the paper sack be left?
Professor Lake: It would vary with the season and activity of the stock,
ten days to two weeks.
President Morris: I wish you would try further experiments in rooting
scions in warm sand in the hot-house. I believe that in some stage you
can probably root those cuttings in moist sand in the hot-house, heated
beneath; and if you can do that, it is going to settle the question very
largely of hickory and walnut propagation. What do you think about that,
Professor Craig?
Professor Craig: I am not very optimistic about the possibility of that.
I find it very, very difficult to get roots to develop from _Hicoria_.
You can get the callus almost every time, but it is very difficult to
secure the development of roots afterwards.
President Morris: How about getting callus by three months, we will say,
in storage?
Professor Craig: We would have the same trouble. They would develop
adventitious buds very poorly. Doctor Morris has sent us from time to
time some samples, and we have been making experiments. I have used
different methods and different propagators. We have one propagator, who
has been most successful usually in striking difficult things, and he
has absolutely failed in this one. I may say that our facilities for
propagation are not ideal at the present time, but we shall have in a
short time a good propagating house with properly regulated benches, as
to bottom heat and overhead ventilation and all that; and we shall, of
course, keep up the experiments.
President Morris: In my experiments, I grafted hickory scions on hickory
roots, and the whole thing, root and scion, lived until the root sent
out adventitious buds, yet in that case we did not get union between the
top and the stock. How do you explain that, Professor Craig?
Professor Craig: I don't explain it.
President Morris: Are we likely to have success along that line by some
modification of the plan?
Professor Craig: I couldn't say. You can keep the cuttings alive for
three or four months.
President Morris: They were in damp rooms, exposed to light, right in
the window.
Doctor Deming: Professor Coville has made some experiments in rooting
hickory cuttings for me. Professor Coville is the one who has made such
a success of blueberry culture. I sent him some cuttings, and he reports
as follows:
"Two experiments were tried with the hickory cuttings received from Dr.
W. C. Deming on January 5, 1911. In one experiment some of the cuttings
were placed in a glass cutting bed in live sphagnum covered with sand,
the upper ends of the cuttings projecting from the sand. The atmosphere
above the cutting bed was kept in a state of saturation by a covering of
glass. The bed was kept shaded and was subjected to an ordinary living
room temperature varying from about 55° to 70°, or occasionally a few
degrees higher.
On January 11 the cambium ring at the lower end of the cuttings had
begun to callus. On February 17 the upper bud on one of the cuttings
began to push. Later some of the other cuttings began to swell
preparatory to the development of new growth. All the cuttings, however,
finally died. It appeared from their behavior that the temperatures to
which they were subjected were too high for their best development.
In the other experiment the cuttings were placed in sand without
sphagnum in a greenhouse at a temperature ordinarily of 50° to 65°,
rising occasionally, however, on still, sunny days to 70°. After a few
weeks, these cuttings were well callused and the buds began to swell
slowly, exposing first their green bracts, and later on some of the
cuttings the green compound leaves, pushing out from among the bracts.
These cuttings also, however, finally turned black and died, but not
until after the first of April.
The experiments showed that hickory cuttings, when taken at a suitable
time of year and exposed to conditions suited to other hard wooded
plants known to be difficult to root, retained their vitality and passed
satisfactorily through the stages preliminary to rooting. While no
actual roots were secured, the experiments suggest that the rooting of
hickory cuttings is not beyond the possibility of attainment.
As the basis of an experiment this winter, I suggest that you select
half a dozen twigs that you are willing to sacrifice on some good
variety of hickory, and remove a ring of bark at a distance of 4 to 8
inches from the top. The ring of bark removed should be about half an
inch in length and its upper end should come about a quarter of an inch
below a bud. At the present season the bark will not peel from the wood.
It will, therefore, be necessary to scrape it off, so as to leave
nothing but the wood on the girdled area. The bark should be cleanly cut
at each end of this area. I hope that we shall still have sufficient
warm weather to induce the formation of a callus on the cambium at the
upper end of this ring.
Later in the winter, some time in January, you can cut off these twigs
and send them to me, packed as those were last year. The cutting is
preferably made just below the ring. I would prefer that all the wood
from the ring to the tip of the twig be of the past summer's growth. We
can try, however, twigs containing two seasons' growth, if the others
are not easily available."
President Morris: That is a suggestion, you see, of apparent value,
because it has succeeded with blueberries,--this method of cutting off a
ring of bark before the leaves are shed, allowing a ring to callous,
then later cutting off this prepared twig and subjecting it to methods
for striking roots. It is an extremely interesting suggestion. Just as
soon as I heard of this procedure, I went out and prepared about fifty
hickory and walnut twigs myself, but that was this autumn, and I haven't
cut them yet for the experiments in rooting. Has anyone had experience
along this line?
Mr. Collins: I saw an experiment in rooting, and I am prompted to ask if
anything has been done along this particular line. The method employed
was this. The twig was partially cut from the branch, perhaps cut
three-quarters of the way through with a slanting cut. It was then bent
a little, and a little sphagnum put in the cut, then a ball of sphagnum
was wrapped about the whole cut area, and it was tied with twine, and
that was kept wet for several months, I think, until, finally, new roots
pushed through and appeared on the outside of this ball of sphagnum.
President Morris: I read of that. It was published in a government
report.
Professor Collins: It was on the rubber plant.
President Morris: I tried it at that time on the hickory. The difficulty
was in getting my men sufficiently interested to keep the sphagnum wet
all the time. It promised something. The rubber plants, perhaps, would
lend themselves more readily to such a procedure than the hickories,
because most of the rubber plants are air plants, anyway. All of the
_Ficus_ family depend so little upon the ground for their nourishment.
Professor Collins: I have seen that worked very successfully.
Professor Lake: You don't know how successful the callousing has been?
President Morris: They calloused all right.
Professor Lake: How long did it require?
President Morris: I don't remember. It was a good while, longer than I
anticipated. I don't think there was a callus on the hickory in less
than thirty days. The butternut and black walnut hardly showed any
callus at all after keeping the sphagnum wet as long as my men would do
it.
Professor Lake: At what time was the ringing done?
President Morris: The leaves had fallen this year. Professor Coville
suggested that it be done before the leaves had fallen. But the hickory
will callous after the leaves have fallen. It seems to me hickories are
at work all winter long. They have a free flow of sap in January, and
any warm day in January they will be like a maple tree, almost, if they
are cut. I have grafted them at that time.
Mr. Brown: Can anyone give me any information on grafting chestnuts?
Mr. Rush: I have been very successful with the grafting of the chestnut.
It is just as simple as grafting other fruit, except the Persian walnut.
Tongue grafting and cleft grafting is very successful. There is no
particular secret in connection with grafting chestnuts.
President Morris: Personally, I found it difficult for two or three
years, but now I can graft the chestnut about as readily as I can graft
the apple. There is no difference in methods. It seems to me from my
present experience that one may graft or bud chestnut by almost any of
the accepted methods pretty freely. What has been your experience, Mr.
Littlepage?
Mr. Littlepage: I haven't been experimenting with the propagation of the
chestnut yet. I am getting ready. I have three or four thousand
seedlings, a few of which will be ready to graft next year. I have
twenty acres of the Paragon chestnuts growing.
President Morris: In chestnut grafting, we will find that one kind does
not graft or bud readily upon another kind, perhaps. For instance, there
is some antagonism between the American sweet chestnut and Asiatic
chestnuts. There is some antagonism between Asiatic and Europeans; there
is little between Europeans and American sweet. These antagonisms are
something that one has to learn from experience at the present time,
because I doubt if we have had enough experience to know just where we
stand on this question.
Professor Collins: Doesn't there seem to be antagonism between eastern
Asiatic other than Japanese and Japanese?
President Morris: Yes; the Koreans of both kinds, the north Japanese of
both kinds, and the Manchurian chestnut are the five that I have
experimented with in grafting, and none of those grow so well on
American stock as they should.
Professor Collins: I mean to say between the Korean and the Japanese.
President Morris: There is less antagonism. You can graft the Korean
upon the Japanese and the Japanese upon the Korean very readily. They
have very much the same texture of wood, the same character of buds and
bark.
Professor Collins: Is there any antagonism between eastern Asian and
Japanese?
President Morris: I don't know that my experience has been extensive
enough to say. My men have put on perhaps two or three hundred grafts
back and forth between these kinds, the customary accidents have
happened, and we have about given up trying to do much grafting of
Japanese on American, but still plan to graft Japanese back and forth
upon each other, and we are now planning to graft European and American
back and forth upon each other.
Mr. Brown: What about the position of the graft?
President Morris: I don't know, Mr. Brown, if there is very much
difference. I haven't found very much. I have grafted all the way from
the root to the top.
Mr. Rush: It is better on top. Sometimes the grafting has an effect upon
the stock just at the union. If it is budded low, it blights. The bark
gets loose. All those that are grafted high are doing remarkably well.
President Morris: The next on the list is Doctor Deming's paper on "Nut
Promotions."
Doctor Deming: I will read first a communication from Mr. Henry Hales of
Ridgewood, New Jersey.
HALES' PAPER SHELL HICKORY.
My shagbark (paper shell) hickory tree was on my farm when I bought it
in 1868. It had been noticed by the neighbors as bearing a fine nut and
was watched by them for the nuts, but they did not appreciate the value
of them. The late Andrew S. Fuller had not seen them, but asked me to
bring him a few. When he saw them he was surprised and at once
pronounced them the finest hickories he had ever seen, and named them
"Hales' Paper Shell." The hickory is one of the most valuable of North
American nuts. It is of a variable nature. I have over twenty old trees
on my place, and no two bear nuts of the same shape or size, and
although some neighbors planted some nuts from the old tree and produced
fruit from them they were only ordinary sized, so that it is necessary
to propagate them to retain their value. About 1880 Parsons & Son, of
Flushing, N. Y., grafted some in pots under glass, from which trees
these nuts sent are the product. The fruit is fully as fine as the
original tree. Prof. C. B. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum has taken
great interest in the nut. I have two trees grafted on wild saplings by
Jackson Dawson near bearing size.
Those are the only trees successfully grafted, out of thousands done in
the North outside, from which I am afraid grafting outside in the North
is a failure on hickory stocks. There may be a better chance on pecan
stock, which I have not thoroughly tested under favorable circumstances.
I have been sending northern pecan nuts and had them planted, and sent
scions for working on them in the South; had some failures from natural
causes. Simpson Bros. of Monticello, Florida, have had fair success
there. My share of two year old trees are on the way here. Of the value
of these nuts too much cannot be said. Mr. Fuller ranked them superior
to the Madeira nut. It has remarkable keeping qualities.
It has taken from eighteen to twenty-five years for my grafted trees to
come into bearing.
I earnestly hope that with the knowledge gained so far, the means of
propagation on a large scale will soon be discovered and successfully
carried on. What a gain it would be to the wealth of our food production
and luxury. The American hickory would then stand highest on the list of
our native nuts.
* * * * *
President Morris: Are there any comments upon this paper of Mr. Hales?
So much is being said about the Hales hickory, it seems to me that
possibly we ought to put on record some thoughts in the matter. Mr.
Hales is entitled to more credit than any other man for bringing forward
the development of the shagbark hickory, and his enthusiasm was based
upon this remarkable nut on his grounds. It is a very large nut, and,
like all large nuts, is much coarser in character than small nuts, and,
like all large nuts, lacks delicacy of flavor that we find in small
nuts. It is thinner shelled than most of the shagbarks that we would see
in many days spent in the woods, but when we have for comparison some
smaller nuts, we find shells very much thinner than the shell of the
Hales. The Hales, like many other large hickories, keeps much better
than the small hickories of finer texture and more delicate quality, and
it may be very good at three years of age, while some of the most
delicious of the smaller, more tender and delicate nuts are spoiling at
the end of six months. I don't know that Mr. Hales would take exception
to my way of stating this, but it seems to me that he ought to feel that
we give him all honor, that we think it a remarkable nut, that it is a
nut, because of its size and features, worthy of the enthusiasm he gave
it. There is apt to be some misunderstanding as to the exact position
this holds in relation to other shagbark hickories.
Mr. Littlepage: What is its bearing record as to quantity?
President Morris: The tree has been cut so much for scions that it has
never had a fair chance. It is a prolific tree. It is well worthy of
propagation.
Mr. Littlepage: It is, perhaps,--judging from looking at it--a very fine
shagbark for commercial purposes. Isn't it true that within the next ten
years there will, in all probability, be a complete reversion in the
mind of the nut culturist as to the kind and quality of the nut he will
propagate. I will supplement that by saying that heretofore, both in the
pecan and other nut fields, the whole tendency has been toward something
big. Now, the wise fellows in the South today are beginning to get away
from that. I have made many trips down there, and I find there is a very
changing sentiment. I want to say that in my observation the future
price of the various nuts of the country is going to be determined by
the price of nut meat; that the meats are going to be put on the market,
and while there will always be plenty of nuts marketed in the shell, the
price of the nut meat will be the dominant factor. I was walking down G
Street in Washington the other day with an ex-United States Senator, and
ex-member of Congress, and an ex-Governor, and they passed a nut store,
and saw in the window some nuts, also a big box of nut meats. Everyone
went in, and all passed up the nuts and bought the nut meat. That
expresses, to my notion, the tendency that is coming; and that thing is
going, then, to determine very largely the question of quality.
President Morris: I think we certainly are going to have a complete
change in ideas about raising nuts. We are going to raise big ones of
the kinds where everybody will buy one pound and nobody will buy two
pounds. We are going to raise nuts that will appeal to the people who
purchase things in the open market, and who never in their lives get
hold of anything that is good. We are going also to raise nuts that will
appeal to connoisseurs, and that will be bought by people who know one
work of art from another. In other words, we are going to make the
progress in nut culture that has been made in other fields of
horticulture. At the present time, if one could raise a pear as big as a
watermelon and tasting like the rind, that would be the pear that would
sell in the market. But the connoisseur buys the Seckel in place of it.
When there is a pear like the Kieffer that will fill the top of the tree
so there is no room for leaves and branches, the market men are going to
raise that pear. But when we go into the market, we go around a block to
escape the place where they sell the Kieffer pear, and we buy the
Bartlett. We have precisely the same problems in nut culture.
Mr. Pomeroy: I have been thinking some on this line. I have spent a good
many half hours in the last four or five years with an old German in
Buffalo. He has a stand on one of the big markets. I find that he has a
whole lot to say in regard to what the people buy. He has found this
out, and he has been there a good many years. He says, "I have been
getting black walnuts from the same farmer boy for six or seven years.
They are fine; try one." He has learned something about the different
trees throughout that section, and about some nuts that are being
shipped in, and he can tell the varieties. He has customers that do come
back after the second package of nuts. He is trying to keep those
customers one year after another. He is creating the demand. When I was
a youngster, if I could have received the prices for black walnuts and
butternuts that youngsters get now, I would have thought I was a
capitalist. Butternuts are retailing at two dollars and two dollars and
a half, and black walnuts the same.
President Morris: We have got to get away from the idea that we are
going to find the best hickory nut or the best walnut or the best nut of
any kind in the largest nut. Nature spreads out just so much material in
the way of flavor and good quality of a nut, and if it is in a large
nut, those good qualities are spread out thin; if it is in a small nut,
they are concentrated.
Professor Lake: I wish I were as optimistic as Mr. Littlepage in this
matter. That is because he has been studying all nuts for twenty-five or
thirty years, and I have only been dabbling around in Persian walnuts
for about twenty years. I have been dabbling with apples twenty-five or
more years, and the real connoisseurs of the apple have been telling us
during that time that the Ben Davis would be wiped out inside of ten
years. I heard that twenty years ago. I believe that there are more Ben
Davis apples being consumed by the public today than any other one
apple. Notwithstanding that, every man who knows good apples goes out
and decries it. It is because that apple can be grown anywhere by
anybody at any time, and will be eaten by the people. The kind of nut
that is going to make the money the next twenty-five or thirty years is
the nut that is prolific, of fair quality, that can be grown by any man,
and that has a fairly good appearance. I believe that the process of
educating the public on the matter of quality is going to be
tremendously slow. It is not always the case, however, that the smaller
the size, the better the quality. A medium size would be better. The
Yellow Newtown is quite a large apple, and it is superior in quality to
the Winesap.
President Morris: I was stating a general rule.
Professor Lake: I fear we aren't going to be able to educate the people.
How many people who eat nuts know anything about their quality? Dr.
Morris has got the ideal of the best nut in walnuts, for instance, the
French Mayette. That is the connoisseur's choice. I know of many people
who will tell you very frankly they prefer the American grown
Franquette, which is much more starchy in make-up and much less nutty.
Mr. Littlepage: I think there is a great deal in what Professor Lake
says. I am not sure he has got the cause of the facts he states. One
reason why the Ben Davis is being planted is, as he stated, that it will
grow almost anywhere; but the reason the public accept the Ben Davis is
because they can't get enough of another at a reasonable price. There
isn't any doubt that if there were plenty others at a reasonable price
the Ben Davis wouldn't be used at all. We hear so much today about this
high cost of living. Of course, there are artificial conditions that
have contributed to this to a greater or less extent; but the principal
element is that we have come up against the problem of feeding the great
American public, that has grown faster than the facilities have grown.
The time for low priced food products is gone forever. Yet there is a
good deal in this commercial phase of it.
President Morris: The Hales hickory is going to be like the Ben Davis
apple, one of the very most popular in the market.
Doctor Deming: I will say regarding the retail price of nuts that in New
York City shelled filberts are priced at $1.25 a pound, shelled almonds
$1.00, ordinary run of hickories and chestnuts in the shells twenty
cents, black walnuts in the shell twelve cents.
President Morris: Hickories will give somewhat over fifty pounds to the
bushel; black walnuts about forty. If we make a rough estimate of fifty
pounds to the bushel for shagbarks, and forty for Persian walnuts, we
will probably have a good fair average.
NUT PROMOTIONS.
BY W. C. DEMING, NEW YORK.
Promoters attack their quarry with a two-edged sword; one edge is what
they say, the other what they leave unsaid; and both edges are often
keen. What they say generally has a foundation of truth with a
superstructure of gilded staff. You must knock over the staff and
examine the foundations to see if they are laid up in good cement mortar
or only mud. Sometimes they are honestly laid but your true promoter can
no more help putting on his Coney Island palace of dreams than a yellow
journal reporter can help making a good story of the most everyday
assignment. I suppose he takes a professional pride in his decorations,
even when the real facts themselves are good enough. Or even, in his
enthusiasm, half believes, and fully hopes, that what he says is true.
So you never can say that because of the evident gilding there is
nothing worth while beneath.
What the promoter does not say it is absolutely necessary for the safe
investor to find out. Deductions from experience in general, and from
knowledge of the business in particular, will help and, when these favor
further investigation, there are two essentials for a wise decision.
First, a study of the records of the promoters, and second, a personal
examination of the property. If these can be thoroughly made, and the
results are satisfactory after a suitable period of mental incubation,
if the prospects will stand the candle test for fertility, you may put
some money on the chance of a good hatch; remembering, too, that many a
good hatch afterward comes to grief with the pip.
Some promotions are conceived in iniquity, some in drunkenness and folly
and some are abortive from incapacity. Your legitimate and well-born,
well-brought-up promotion, fathered by ability and mothered by honesty,
it is your problem to recognize, if that is what you are looking for,
and to avoid the low-born trickster or incapable. No one can tell you
how to do this any more than he can tell you an easy way to graft
hickories.
The northern nut grower is not yet bothered with northern nut
promotions. At most he is called on to discount the statements of
sellers of trees, and that a little, not too expensive, experience will
teach him. The West is apparently too busy selling fruit and fruit lands
to lay out nuts to trap eastern nibblers. But the allurements of pecan
growing in the South are spread before us with our bread and butter and
morning coffee. The orange and pomelo properties have been banished from
the stage, or made to play second fiddle, and now we see in the
limelight the pecan plantation, with a vista of provision for old age
and insurance for our children. And there shall be no work nor care nor
trouble about it at all. Only something down and about ten dollars a
month for ninety-six months. And the intercropping is to more than pay
for that. It is indeed an enticing presentation.
Although we have as yet no northern nut promotions we may expect the
time when the sandy barrens of the shore and the boulder pastures of the
rock ribbed hills will be cut up into five acre plots and promoted as
the natural home of the chestnut and the hickory, holding potential
fortunes for their developers. I hope it will be so for it will
postulate a foundation in fact. But the chestnut blight and the
unresponsiveness of the hickory to propagation as yet hold up these
future camp followers of the northern nut growing pioneers. So that for
the present there is only the sword of the southern pecan promoter to
parry.
It would be a work of supererogation and effrontery for me to attempt to
treat this subject in particular since it has been so clearly and ably
done by Col. C. A. Van Duzee of St. Paul, Minn., and Viking, Fla., from
the standpoint of long experience and full knowledge. His paper should
be read by all interested persons. I am permitted to make the following
quotations from it:
"The pecan as an orchard tree has recently been discovered and its
history has not been written. The record at present is largely based on
scattered individual trees growing under abnormal conditions which, as a
rule, are favorable....
"Calculations and deductions based upon these results have been made
which are fascinating, but they are utterly unreliable when applied to
orchards of other trees in different localities growing under totally
different conditions?...
"No one knows what a pecan orchard grown under such conditions is going
to do."
Col. Van Duzee, however, expresses firm belief in the success of pecan
growing under proper personal supervision.
It all comes down to the question, "Can you or I hire our business done
for us, never go near it ourselves and expect others to make a success
of it for us?"
And yet, when all is said, I confess that I have been tempted by my
faith in the present and future of pecan growing in the South. I might
have invested were it not for my firm belief that, in nut growing, the
North is but a few years behind the South, and that I wish to devote my
resources and my energies to having a hand in a development which, I
share with you the belief, is to be of inestimable benefit to the human
race. We can picture the day when our dooryards, our roadsides, our
fields and hills shall be shaded by grand nut trees, showering
sustenance and wealth on our descendants, and all people, and bearing
the names of their originators; when the housewife of the future shall
send her wireless call to the grocer for a kilo of Hales' Papershells,
the Rush, the Jones, the Pomeroy Persian walnuts, the Black Ben Deming
butternut, the Craig Corean chestnut, the Morris Hybrid hickory, the
Close black-walnut or the Littlepage pecan.
* * * * *
President Morris: It is a very timely paper. The number of promoters we
find in connection with any subject furnishes an index of the
fundamental value of the original proposition. The number of dishonest
people, the number of fakirs that are now promoting development schemes
in connection with the pecan indicates that down at the bottom
somewhere, there is a real gold mine. We will go on to Mr. Roper's
paper.
SOME FACTS CONCERNING PECAN TREES FOR PLANTING IN THE NORTH.
W. N. ROPER, PETERSBURG, VA.
Pecan trees for successful culture in the North must be of hardy,
early-maturing varieties, budded on stocks from northern pecans and
grown in nursery under suitable climatic conditions. These are
requisites indicated by practical, experimental work and observations
extending over several years.
The successful production of large southern pecans in far northern
climates can hardly be looked for except under the most favorable
conditions of soil, location and season. There seems no good reason for
planting southern pecans in the far North, except in an experimental
way; for there are northern varieties now being propagated that are the
equal of most of the standard southern sorts in quality and very little
below them in size. They will prove to be as large or larger in the
North than the southern varieties grown in the same locality, and much
more apt to bear regularly.
The method used in propagating the hardy types is important. Budding and
root-grafting each has its advocates among pecan growers in the South,
and this would indicate that there is no great difference between the
trees propagated by these two methods when they are planted in that
section. But based on results with several hundred specimens,
root-grafted pecan trees are not desirable for planting in northern
climates.
During the past six years there have been grown in nursery, in the
eastern part of Virginia, near Petersburg, about 2,000 root-grafted
trees of eight southern varieties of pecans and one Virginia variety,
including Stuart, Van Deman, Moneymaker, and Mantura. All these trees
are worthless. None of them, though they have been cared for, has ever
been considered by the grower fit to dig and transplant. Most of these
trees suffer winter injury each year, many of them being killed back to
the graft union. Those that do not die below the ground grow out the
following summer, only to be killed back again the next winter or
spring. Those damaged only a part of the way down the trunks, even when
not badly injured, do not recover promptly. Several hundred budded trees
grown during the same period in adjoining rows have been entirely free
from any winter injury. The grafts and buds were inserted on stocks from
northern and southern nuts.
A thousand budded and root-grafted trees received from six southern
nurserymen were planted in orchards in the same locality. A very large
percentage of the root-grafted trees died; only a small percentage of
the budded trees died. Many of the root-grafted trees that survived are
making poor growth; most of the budded trees are strong and vigorous.
The only trees of the Virginia varieties ever reported winter-killed
were root-grafts.
No root-grafts of the northern types on northern stocks have been made
in Virginia, but root-grafts of Indiana varieties on southern stocks
transplanted there winter-kill badly. Several Indiana trees root-grafted
on southern stocks and in their second year's growth in the nursery
winter-killed in Florida last season. Not a single budded Indiana tree
in Virginia suffered any winter injury whatever, although the buds were
grown on southern as well as on northern stocks. All the root-grafted
Indiana trees transplanted at Petersburg during the past two years have
died from winter injury.
Northern types root-grafted on northern stocks not having been tested,
no definite information can be given, of course; but with all southern
varieties winter-killing in the North, when root-grafted on either
northern or southern stocks, and the Virginia variety winter-killing
when root-grafted on southern or northern stocks, and the Indiana
varieties winter-killing both in the North and in the South when
root-grafted on southern stocks, it seems reasonable to presume that the
northern varieties root-grafted on northern stocks will also
winter-kill. The stocks of the root-grafted trees are seldom injured.
They send up sprouts except in cases where the graft union is so far
beneath the surface of the soil that after the grafted part is killed
the stock is too deep to grow out.
Not a single tree out of a total of 40,000 seedlings in Virginia grown
from northern nuts planted during a period of six years has ever been
found affected by winter injury; practically all the trees out of 50,000
or more grown in the same locality from southern nuts, planted during
the same years had their tops affected by winter injury the first, and
most of them the second season of their growth; but no injury after the
second season has been noted.
With the view of making southern varieties better adapted to planting in
northern area, experiments have been made in propagating them on stocks
from northern nuts. This stock has thus far proved unsatisfactory for
southern varieties either budded or root grafted. The trees from
northern nuts go dormant earlier in the fall and remain dormant later in
the spring than trees from southern nuts. Northern trees in the nursery
rows in early spring, in a perfectly dormant condition, are in striking
contrast with the southern trees and their fresh, green foliage. Though
the growing period in the North is nearly a fourth shorter for the
northern than for the southern varieties, the native trees in the North
make equal growth with the southern trees there during the same season.
Northern varieties budded on northern stocks grown at Petersburg the
past summer made nearly as much growth during one season as root-grafted
trees of the same varieties on southern stocks grown in Florida two
seasons. The trees at Petersburg were from dormant buds set the previous
fall. They were just starting into growth in May when the trees in
Florida had made a growth of six to twelve inches.
The northern seedlings in the North make better growth in a season than
the northern seedlings in the South, as far as has been observed. When
the growing period begins in the northern climate, the native trees
respond at once to the quick growing season and outgrow the trees that
have been accustomed to a slower growing climate. When their growing
period is over, they begin promptly their preparation for the winter.
The long, slow growing climate of the South does not seem to give the
quick growing tree of the North an opportunity for its greatest growth
at the important period. There appears to be too much difference between
the growing habits of the southern and the northern pecans for either to
be suitable stock upon which to grow the other.
Two choice trees of Moneymaker and one of Stuart, all well grown and
giving every promise of success, were selected out of a large number of
these varieties budded on northern stocks, and were transplanted in
orchard two years ago for experiment. The Moneymaker trees have made
little growth and the Stuart tree practically none. All have an
unhealthy appearance and are left standing only for further experiments.
The section of Virginia in which these experiments have been made
affords very severe climatic tests. The temperature in winter sometimes
goes below zero, the temperature in spring is variable, changing
suddenly from warm to freezing. Pecan trees seem able to endure almost
any degree of cold when they are in a thoroughly dormant condition. The
winter-killing from which they often suffer in the South, as well as in
the North, is due to the effect of sudden freezing temperatures
following warm periods in winter or spring.
Only well grown, vigorous pecan trees should be planted in the North. It
is a waste of time and money to plant indifferent pecan trees in any
locality, and especially in a locality where they have to contend with
severe climatic conditions. The size of the tree is less important than
its root system and vigor. The purchasers of trees grown on thin, sandy
soil, with the root systems consisting almost entirely of straight tap
roots, destitute of laterals, need not expect success. Most of these
trees will die early, and many of those that live will linger on for
several seasons without making much growth, tiring out the patience of
the planter.
The work of transplanting should be very carefully done and the trees
given proper care and culture.
It has been found that it costs more to grow pecan nursery trees in the
North than in the South, but it is believed that planters in the North
will find that these trees have a value which will far offset their
additional cost.
Some of the methods of propagation and care are slightly different in
the North from those that usually obtain in the South. But it is not
practicable to go into the details connected with this work. The facts
that have been mentioned are those that are believed to be of most
importance for consideration by persons planting pecan trees in the
North. Those who have gone thus far with the work upon which the
conclusions are based are continuing as earnestly as they began.
The outlook for the success of the pecan industry in northern territory
is exceedingly promising where hardy, early-maturing varieties are
properly grown in nursery on hardy stocks under climatic conditions that
will best fit them for the locality in which they are to be planted.
President Morris: We can give some time to the discussion of Mr. Roper's
paper. I want to ask if some of the hardy kinds which will stand the
winters well may not carry their ripening season so late that they do
not properly mature! Isn't this a line of observation we have got to
follow out in adapting pecans to northern fields? Who has had
experience?
Mr. Littlepage: That is a very important point, and it is one of the
things that everyone is going to discover who is engaged in northern
pecan planting on the extreme limits within the next few years. There
isn't much danger of the pecan getting frost-bitten in the spring as
some imagine, because the pecan tree seems to be a pretty good weather
prophet. They don't get ready, as a rule, till most of the danger is
past. A great majority of the Persian walnuts and pecans don't begin to
pollenate till the tenth of May, and it is very rare that a tree doesn't
ripen its nuts there. But once in a while we discover a tree that sets a
bountiful crop annually and never matures a nut, because it gets frost
bitten. It simply doesn't have the length of growing season.
Mr. Rush: I remember a pecan tree I received, and have had growing for
the last six years in Pennsylvania. It was never affected with the cold,
and made luxurious growth. But I haven't been so fortunate as to get it
to bear, although it throws out catkins in the spring.
President Morris: The pecan tree is known to be hardy as far north as
Boston. There are quite a good many near New York City, some of them
fine, trees, but not bearing much, and for the most part small nuts.
Mr. Rush: Mr. Jones of Jeanerette, Louisiana, has been at my place, and
he says that the growth of the pecan is just as luxuriant there as in
Louisiana.
President Morris: The point we want to bring out is this, and I think we
ought to emphasize it at this meeting--that pecans suitable for northern
planting must include the idea of an early ripening season, earlier than
the ripening season of southern pecans.
Mr. Rush: Sometimes there is a provision in nature for that. The tree
will adapt itself to the climate, and give a smaller nut.
President Morris: What has been your experience, Mr. Roper?
Mr. Roper: We have only fruited Stuart at Petersburg. All the nuts have
been well filled, but much smaller than the Stuart farther south.
Mr. Pomeroy: Mr. Littlepage made the remark yesterday that nature will
attend to this largely for us. He spoke of the wood beginning to ripen
the middle of August. With us in Niagara County, we expect that with all
trees the wood will begin ripening about the first of August, preparing
for the winter. Persian walnut doesn't come into blossom till about the
last of May or the first of June.
President Morris: It is not mainly a matter of ripening wood, but of
ripening nuts, in pecan growing in the North. A good many nuts will
remain green, even though the tree will grow well; and we must have
nurserymen draw our attention to this difference, when they are sending
trees out to us for northern planting. That is a thing that may not be
determined right now, but nurserymen must be able to report upon
comparative ripening times of various kinds of pecans to be sent north.
We will have the report of the Committee on Nominations.
[The report was accepted and the nominees elected.]
President Morris: We have with us Professor Herrick, who will present
his paper on the subject of the scolytus beetle. Professor Herrick has
prepared his paper at our request since we came here.
THE SCOLYTUS BEETLE.
PROF. A. W. HERRICK, ITHACA, N. Y.
With a residence of a little over a decade in the South, I became more
or less intimately connected with a good many of the nut growers of the
section, especially the pecan growers. I found them there an intelligent
body of men.
The President has asked me to talk just a little on the hickory bark
borer. While in Mississippi, I first came into contact with the hickory
bark borer by its work on the hickories on the lawn in front of my house
and on the Campus. It began killing the trees. I had ten or a dozen
trees on the lawn that were from six to eight inches through, and they
had made a fine growth but they began suddenly to die. First, I noticed
the leaves falling in the summer time, then later in the winter the
branches began to die at the top. On investigation, I found that it was
this little hickory bark borer. We carried out, as a result of that
investigation, a few experiments, and extended them over the Campus,
following the recommendations of Doctor Hopkins of the Department of
Agriculture, Washington. The results were pretty gratifying. I was able
to save those trees on the lawn, and during three or four years
succeeding the time we got these experiments into practice, no more had
died, and they had kept on making a good growth; and I believe the
ravages of the beetle had been checked.
The little beetle belongs to a family called the _Scolytidae_--very
small beetles that burrow through the bark of trees, and between the
bark and the wood, partly in the bark and partly in the wood. These
beetles are interesting in their life history. The female bores through
the bark, and then she builds a channel partly in the wood and partly in
the bark. She goes along and digs out little niches all along, and in
each one of these, deposits a tiny white egg. That soon hatches into the
small grub, and the grub begins to burrow out to get his food, and you
will find these little burrows running out from the main burrow of the
mother beetle. When these grubs reach their growth, each one of them
comes out and bores a little shot-hole-like round hole through the bark,
so that a tree that is pestered with it will finally have the bark full
of these little round holes. You have probably seen a similar thing in
peach, plum, and cherry trees.
The hickory bark borer is found all over the eastern United States, from
Canada to the Gulf, and as far west as Nebraska. It attacks hickory
trees and walnut trees, and as far as I can find, the authorities say
probably the pecan. I never found it on the pecan in the South. If it
does ever come to attack it in any numbers, it will be a serious pest
from the nut grower's point of view.
In this state, it was first noticed by its work on hickory trees in the
vicinity of New York City, and it is killing a good many of them. To
show its dangerousness--on the estate of Mr. Wadsworth at Geneseo in
1900 and 1901 over an area of two hundred acres, it destroyed ninety to
ninety-five per cent of the hickories. It really becomes a most
injurious pest. These little fellows running under the bark cut off the
cambium layer and girdle it, and kill the tree as effectually as if we
were to take an axe and girdle it. A few can girdle it very quickly.
An infested tree in the summer shows some characteristic effects. The
leaves begin to dry and wither, and finally drop. The adult beetles,
when they come out in June and July, attack the petioles, leaves, and
terminal buds for food, then go down to the larger branches and trunks,
and burrow to lay their eggs. The younger top branches begin to die. If
you look, you will very often find a little white sawdust in cracks in
the bark. That is an indication that they are present. If you take off
the bark, you will find such an appearance as I have shown you. Later,
you will find these holes all over, showing the work of the beetle.
I will give the life history of the insect very briefly. The insects
live over the winter under the bark, as grubs, and in the spring they
change to the pupa form, and come out along in June and July. Some may
be as late as August. Those beetles go to the branches and leaves, and
soon begin laying their eggs. There is only one brood a season, in this
locality at least. In a longer season, farther south, there might be
more than one, although my experience in Mississippi was that there was
only one brood.
A word regarding methods of control. You can readily see that there is
no way of getting at the beetle with insecticides after they have gotten
under the bark. Doctor Pelt mentions the value of spraying the trees in
summer to kill adults when they are feeding on the petioles and probably
the terminal buds and younger twigs. It is rather doubtful whether it
would pay to spray hickory trees at that time, although the expense of
spraying large trees is not so great as you might think. We have had
experiences here, because it fell to my lot to spray all the elm trees
on the Campus last year. I kept very careful account of this. We sprayed
between five and six hundred trees. About one hundred are scattered over
the hillsides west of the buildings, some a mile from the water supply.
We did the work for about eighty-eight cents apiece, each tree having a
thorough spray. The largest trees on each side of the street we gave two
sprayings for a little less than forty cents apiece.
The real method of getting at this hickory bark borer is for everybody
to cooperate and cut those trees out, or at least the affected parts of
the tree, before the first of May. I know of no other effective method
of getting them. Cut them out and burn them. Some say, peel off the bark
and destroy that; but if you do that, you have got to cut off the
smallest branches and burn those, and I am afraid you would not get all
of the grubs. But it is better, if you can, to actually dispose of the
whole tree in some way.
There were three trees on the lawn infested and dying. I cut those out
in February, and that evidently stopped the ravages of the beetle. That
was carried on over the whole Campus, and it must have stopped the
injuries, because during the three or four years I was there after that,
we had no dead hickories from that cause.
That is evidently the only method of getting at them. It has been
wondered if we might not go to the Commissioner of Agriculture, and ask
him to take this matter in hand and force people to cooperate, because
it has become a rather serious problem. It is evident from a perusal of
the law that he has power to do that, and perhaps if this Nut Growers'
Association wishes to pass resolutions to bring before Commissioner
Pearson, they might induce him to take some steps to control this
hickory bark borer.
President Morris: If we have evidence that the hickory bark borer can
destroy ninety per cent of the hickory trees on an estate so well cared
for as the Wadsworth estate, it indicates a menace to the whole hickory
forests of the North. In view of this fact, in view of the possibility
of ninety per cent of our hickory trees being destroyed by this beetle,
it seems to me that we should ask our Commissioner of Agriculture to
take charge of the matter, as he has taken charge of the chestnut bark
disease, requiring the cooperation of the people in disposing of a
question which is so vital among the economic problems of our state. Is
there any discussion on this paper?
Doctor Deming: I would like to read an extract from a letter addressed
to me by H. W. Merkel, Forester of the Bronx Zoological Park:
"Under Chapter 798 of the laws of the state of New York, passed on July
26th, 1911, the Commissioner of Agriculture is authorized and charged
with preventing the spread of just such pests as the Hickory bark-borer,
and if this matter be called to his attention promptly and in the right
way by such responsible and interested parties as the Northern Nut
Growers' Association, there is, undoubtedly, still time to check the
further spread of the pest. We have from now until June (the time when a
new generation of beetles will emerge) to take whatever action is
necessary, and I urge upon you to persuade the Nut Growers' Association
to take the necessary steps. I would be glad to have a conference with
you on this matter, and will be glad to help you in any way you wish."
I would suggest the appointment of a committee to draw up a strong set
of resolutions to be sent to the Commissioner of Agriculture of the
State of New York and perhaps of other states, and to the Department of
Agriculture. (Referred to Executive Committee for report.)
President Morris: We will have next in order the paper by Professor Lake
on the Persian walnut in California.
THE PERSIAN WALNUT IN CALIFORNIA.
ABSTRACT OF A LECTURE BY PROFESSOR E. R. LAKE, WASHINGTON, D. C.
The Persian walnut industry of the United States is confined,
practically, to four counties in Southern California, Santa Barbara,
Ventura, Los Angeles and Orange. The territory covered is, in a general
way, fifty by one hundred and fifty miles in extent, though, of course,
only a very small part of this area is planted, and that really the best
land in the territory. This industry which yields practically two and
one-half millions of dollars annually to the growers is about
thirty-five years old, and at present involves the consideration of one
variety, the Santa Barbara Softshell. While it is true that there are
about seventy-five named varieties now grown in the country, the Santa
Barbara constitutes the commercial crop and will for some time to come,
though effort is being made to find a more desirable variety.
During the past ten years a troublesome pest in the form of a fungous
disease which attacks the young twigs and young nuts has awakened an
interest in other varieties and at present much work is being done with
a view to finding one or more varieties that shall be fully resistant to
this foe. At present the University of California, which is the
directive factor in this investigation, is recommending the trial of
half a dozen of the more promising varieties or forms that have been
developed through selection, or chance, in the local orchards. As a
result of the effect of this trouble, the crop output has increased very
slightly during the past decade, though the area of planted trees has
increased very much, hence it is very apparent that some other varieties
must be found; for it has been quite conclusively proven that none of
the means so effectively used against the fungous troubles that affect
other orchard crops are of any avail in this case. When it is noted that
there has been practically no advance in the improvement of varieties
since the origin of the Franquette and Mayette about one hundred and
fifty years ago, except the accidental appearance of the Santa Barbara
which was produced presumably from a nut from Chili (!) in 1868 on the
grounds of Joseph Sexton, Goleta, California, it is evident that our
nuciculturists have been indifferent, especially as to the possibilities
of extending the area of production.
Speaking more particularly of California walnut growing, it may be said:
The best of soils are selected for this crop; the trees are being
planted from forty to fifty feet apart; the best and most common advice
is to plant budded or grafted trees, and so far as this advice has been
followed the Placentia, an improved Santa Barbara, has been used, though
in the newer districts where efforts are being made, with apparent
success, to develop this industry, several other varieties are being
used, such as the Wiltz, Franquette, Mayette, Eureka, Chase, Prolific,
Meylan, Concord, Treyve and Parisienne. Thus far this work is
experimental, and only time will determine the success and value of it.
The crop, as with all orchard crops on the Pacific Coast, is cultivated
intensively, clean tillage being given, followed by cover crops and in
some cases fertilizers accompanied with intercrops.
The trees require very little pruning, and though formerly the heads
were started high, they are now formed low and the primary branches
trained to ascend obliquely, thus facilitating tillage operations, and,
in this respect, even improving upon the high head with spreading or
even drooping main branches. While the more progressive planters favor
trees one year from the bud, which have been put upon two year old
stock, some still prefer two year old tops. Stocks are preferably
California black, northern form. This is a large and vigorous tree,
while the southern form is often or perhaps better, usually, a large
shrub or small tree.
The remarkable behavior of the Vrooman orchard at Santa Rosa, in which
there are sixty acres of grafted Franquettes, has been the chief means
of stimulating the very extensive plantings that have been made during
the past five or six years in the Pacific Northwest. This is the largest
orchard of grafted nuts of a single type variety in the United States
and is a most excellent example of what follows grafting. The nuts are
exceedingly uniform, and large size. They are marketed in the natural
color and are especially attractive, particularly when of a
reddish-golden tinge.
The trees begin to bear at five or six years, though many instances are
recorded where two year olds have borne a few nuts. Usually only a few
pounds per year are produced prior to twelve years, after that the yield
increases rapidly until at sixteen years the trees will average
approximately fifty pounds or more per tree under favorable soil,
tillage, and climatic conditions, providing the trees are of selected
varieties of good bearing qualities.
One tree, known as the Payne tree, top worked on to a native black, has
a record of yielding as much as seven hundred and twelve pounds in one
season, though it is not fair to use these figures in estimating the
yield per acre of seventeen trees.
While the walnut has received little attention in the Eastern United
States, there are sufficient data at hand now to warrant the statement
that several meritorious varieties may be successfully grown in
favorable localities. These nuts, though not rated as high as the best
imported nuts or the choice California product, would successfully
compete with the foreign nuts which are now rated as replacement nuts
by the dealers in California's best grade. It is not safe to endorse
the view that any waste or abandoned land may be converted into
successful walnut orchards, though such lands may in due time produce
trees that will bear nuts. A first-class walnut orchard can only be
produced upon first-class land, deep, fertile soil, a low water table,
an open subsoil, with choice varieties, grafted upon the most suitable
stock and then given first-class tree-care.
Professor Lake: I think a man now is making a tremendous mistake who
thinks for a moment of advising the planting of seedling walnuts. We are
bound to meet the problem of grafted fruit right away. The success in
grafting in Washington this year has been such as to make us feel
certain that we may safely advise budding yearling stocks and expecting
a return of from seventy to ninety per cent of successful sets. Stocks
giving best success in budding are California black. About two weeks
after the budding is done, the tops are cut off two inches above, and
allowed to bend over and protect the buds; and in the West, where they
have intense sunlight, they have found it necessary to cover the buds
with paper sacks. The budding which has given the largest success is
hinge budding, a kind that I haven't seen discussed generally in the
East. Instead of being a T at one end, it is a T at both ends. There is
a horizontal cut across, another below, and a split between. The buds
are taken preferably from the last year's wood. We attempt to take the
wood away from the bud, with the exception of that little spongy part
that runs up into the bud, and is the core.
Mr. Pomeroy: You speak of the hulling. Do they have to hull the Persian
walnuts?
Professor Lake: In many instances, especially in dry seasons, or in
those sections where water is not particularly abundant. Ordinarily,
hulling is avoided by irrigating just preceding the time of falling.
Frequently the growers of large acreages say that it is cheaper to run
them all through the huller.
Mr. Littlepage: What would you prophesy about the average seedling
Persian walnut tree as to success and quality of nut?
Professor Lake: I was led to think that all that was necessary to do was
to plant the walnuts, because most of our authorities of twenty years
ago said the walnut would come true to seed. I think out of several
hundred trees planted throughout the state, and many we planted
ourselves, not a seedling came true. I should think, normally, we should
be very much dissatisfied in ten years from planting seedlings. As soon
as anyone buds these with Franquette, Parisienne, Concord, Rush,
Pomeroy, and others, I am satisfied he will not want to chance it with
seedlings.
Mr. Littlepage: This dissatisfaction that may result from setting
seedling walnuts, such as Rush, Nebo, Pomeroy, and others, would be
just as great, perhaps, as the dissatisfaction resulting in the West,
would it not?
Professor Lake: I can't see any reason, but that if there are present
any of the native trees, they are bound to cross-fertilize. In
California we have the Royal hybrid produced at over a mile and a half
distance from any known American blacks. The Royal is a cross between
the American black and the California black.
Mr. Littlepage: I don't suppose it would be reasonable to expect that
there is a Persian walnut in the northern or eastern United States far
enough from some native black to render it safe.
Professor Lake: I should hardly think so. Even if it is, I question
whether a nut of real merit will come true to seed.
President Morris: Is it true that even from single type orchards the
nuts, while coming fairly true to seed, would give trees widely
different in bearing propensities?
Professor Lake: That is very true in this Vrooman orchard that has been
developed to the very best possible advantage. There are trees that
haven't borne a nut to make them worth while, others have been
remarkably vigorous. From these, a few people, knowing of their real
merits, are propagating select strains for their own use. They have
fifteen or sixteen years' record. I question, if you take a hundred
Franquettes from the Vrooman orchard miscellaneously, whether you would
get more than ten per cent that would be really as good as the Vrooman.
President Morris: In California I went along the coast this summer from
Los Angeles to Oregon and Washington, and looked over orchards. I find
that in the West, as in the East, the tendency is for the Persian walnut
to store up an undue amount of starch in the kernel. It is apt also to
store up an undue proportion of tannin, and to be insipid. That means
that in this country we must develop our own type of walnut, and it is
quite the exception to find among any Persian walnuts growing on the
Atlantic Coast or the Pacific Coast or in the middle of the country
walnuts that are free from this tendency to astringency, to insipidity,
and to toughness.
When I was on the Pacific Coast looking over specimens in one
agricultural collection, a young woman who was showing the collection
said, "And here is a lot of Franquettes, and Chabertes, and Mayettes,
and Parisiennes that we imported; and do you know, we found our walnuts
very much better than those?" I said to her, "Don't deceive yourself in
this matter. This self-deception is a mistake. The thing to do is not
to make that kind of a decision, but really to develop in our own
country walnuts just as good as those, but not like them."
This was exemplified in a group of walnut raisers. One would say, "Here
is a fine walnut that I raised." The other would say, "Yes, that looks
pretty good, but you have got to hire a good talker to sell it." Another
would say, "Isn't this a fine thin shelled nut?" And the same thing
would be said. Now, the whole conversation of that meeting was to the
effect that "you have got to have a good talker to sell it." Those
people send their good talkers all over the country, and they do sell
the walnuts; and it is going to kill the walnut market, unless this is
stopped. Those points are ones upon which I would like to have an
expression of opinion from Mr. Lake.
Professor Lake: I may say that the western knowledge of the walnut is
based very largely upon the character of the Santa Barbara Softshell,
and the people in the West are fully satisfied that the Pacific Coast
walnuts are the best in the world. I am thoroughly of their belief, too.
I agree thoroughly with the doctrine that we have got to improve our own
varieties, and that is being done in the best way that we know at
present,--by cross-fertilizing and growing the seedlings. A number have
been developed the past few years. It is very true that the general
public's taste, however, is not up yet to the connoisseur's in this
matter, and I am satisfied that the ordinary grade of walnut is going to
meet the public demand for a long time yet. The Santa Barbara Softshell
will sell to the American public for good profitable prices for some
time, and in the meantime, the men who are really wideawake and have a
knowledge of the situation are going to endeavor to improve the home
strains. I can't see that we can hope for very much from France, for
during the last two years the real Mayette of France has been imported,
because we have trees bearing in Santa Clara Valley a Mayette as near
like the Mayette of Europe as it is possible to make them. The French
have not been particularly anxious for us to get their best strains.
President Morris: In this connection, let me say I have seen Mayette,
Chaberte, Parisienne,--the best European walnuts--growing in this
country, and in this country they do precisely like the best European
grapes,--that is, they give us a different product. Imported grafted
stock will take from our soil those elements which make an astringent,
tough, insipid nut. We have got to recognize it. Don't let us fail to go
on record as calling attention to that fact. That means if we import the
very best European kinds and plant these, we are going to have the same
records as with grapes.
Professor Lake: This matter of quality is of considerable moment to the
growers out there. Last year I took occasion to write five of the
leading dealers in New York, like Parke and Tilford. They said in their
letters of reply, "We consider the quality as varying from season to
season. Some seasons we get the California product better than the
European product; other seasons it is just the other way." It leads me
to think seasonal variation has a great deal to do with the walnut,
possibly. In some cases even the large dealers are not yet agreed that
the American product is not yet good enough for the American market.
President Morris: Shall we say that nuts for the connoisseur should not
be bleached?
Professor Lake: Modern bleaching consists in running the nuts through a
current of salt. It is applied in such a way that it does not do any
injury whatever to the flavor or the kernel, unless possibly salting the
kernel in cracked nuts would be considered injurious. The bleaching is
beautiful. They are not over bleached. They use six pounds of salt to a
thousand gallons of water, and run a current of ninety-five volts. It is
sprayed on to the nuts as they pass through a revolving cylinder, the
spray coming on in a fine mist. As they pass over the cylinder, they are
graded and ventilated, and put into sacks. That is after they have been
dried. They are ready in about twenty-two hours to be sacked and
delivered. The old method of processing in soda and lime and sulphur
certainly did injure them.
Mr. Pomeroy: I am just a short distance from Niagara Falls and Buffalo.
When any of you are in that section, I would like to have you come and
see my trees. There are the seven year old trees my father started, and
the orchard is of five or six acres. Some of the seedlings are in
bearing now. I have a good many black walnuts in nursery rows, and I am
going to begin grafting and budding. One thing I came for was to get
information in regard to budding and grafting. In regard to the caring
for the trees, it is a great pleasure to watch a tree grow and get it in
shape.
Professor Craig: It seems to me that out of the very interesting
discussion we have had on this question of the Persian walnut, and out
of the discussion which has arisen from the papers of Mr. Littlepage and
others on native nuts, we have obtained some very general principles
which should be emphasized at this time. The one large principle that I
want to call attention to is the principle which says that, in order to
develop fruits--and we will include nuts in that general group--which
shall be useful to the American public, we shall have to develop them
under American soil and atmospheric conditions. In other words, the
importation _per se_ of European stock of whatever kind is altogether
likely to meet with failure. This is the history of American fruit
growing from the beginning. The very first beginning of fruit culture in
this country was the importation of European fruits, and these
uniformly failed. Success came when American colonists began to grow
American seedlings. The fact that these have prevailed is shown by the
percentage of American fruits the large orchardist produces at the
present time. Today nearly ninety-nine per cent of our apples are of
American origin. The condition of today means success; the condition of
a hundred years ago meant failure.
In this Persian walnut business, I think success is going to come to us
through such work as Mr. Pomeroy and other interested amateurs are doing
throughout the country, in selecting a good type of seedling here and
there and growing seedlings from it. This homely old method of producing
new types through seedling selection is, I think, going to do a great
deal to ameliorate conditions the country over. I simply wanted to
impress that idea, that if we nut growers are going to do something to
help the nut interests of the country, we can do it by planting nuts and
selecting nuts from the best types, again taking the best nuts from the
best types and planting them; thus by keeping on selecting, we shall win
success in the future.
IS THERE A FUTURE FOR _JUGLANS REGIA_ AND _HICORIA PECAN_ IN NEW YORK
AND NEW ENGLAND?
JOHN CRAIG, ITHACA, N. Y.
[Read by title.]
It is common knowledge that there have been frequent instances of the
successful fruitage of Persian walnuts throughout the entire Northeast.
The evidence is forthcoming in attractive samples of nuts. Specimens
have been received during the past two years from New England,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the lake region of New York, as well as
the Hudson River section. So far as I am aware, however, _Hicoria pecan_
has not fruited to any extent further north and east than southern
Indiana.
Is it not remarkable that so little effort has been made to extend the
natural range of this superb native nut northward?
The fruiting habits of _Juglans regia_ may be regarded as fickle,
depending in some cases upon pollination, in others upon climatic
conditions at the blooming time. One of its defects is its decided
proterandrous habit, which seriously affects pollination and fruit
setting. In general, the Persian walnut is capable of cultivation in all
safe peach growing sections. Yet in the Gulf States the complaint is
made that it is too readily susceptible to stimulating influences of
warm weather in the spring. Again, the roots in that section are
affected by fungi and insects. Notwithstanding these charges, there
should be a future in the North, as well as in the South, for this fine
nut. It is hardly to be expected that success is to be attained in all
sections of the country by using exclusively the material, by this I
mean the strains and races, we have at the present time. For instance,
in the South the root trouble is peculiar to that section, and it is
probable that the root difficulties spoken of may be overcome by using
native stocks in grafting and budding. The blooming habits, however, can
only be modified by the relatively slow process of breeding.
In the North, nature has already provided us with foundation material
for the improvement of _Juglans regia_. We have many promising varieties
that have appeared more or less fortuitously here and there over the
country. It is conceded that all of these do not possess the full range
of desirable qualities, but they are sufficiently attractive certainly
to challenge the best efforts of the plant breeder. We are encouraged
too by such experiences as has come to us in the crossing of regia with
allied species. A number of crosses of _regia_ and _nigra_ are recorded
from the Pacific Coast. Burbank, Payne, and others have made notable
progress in this line. It is a question, however, whether this line
offers as certain reward as breeding in narrower lines, using the best
individuals of _Juglans regia_ which have come to us more or less by
chance. The latter appears to me as the best field to operate.
Among the requirements in the Northeast, it may be said that we need
hardiness of tree, coupled with a determinate habit of blooming, more
than any other characteristics. Of course it goes without saying that we
need thin shells, well filled with palatable meat. The work of Messrs.
Pomeroy of Lockport, N. Y., J. G. Rush of West Willow, Pa., and other
individuals in the Northeast is worthy of all encouragement. Wherever
Persian walnuts are producing good nuts here in the Northeast, the best
specimens of the best individual trees should be planted in the strong
hope of improving the strain. There should be a first rate promise of
success in this field, for many of our walnuts are fruiting as
individual trees, standing alone and isolated, and therefore, are
probably self-fertilized, a circumstance which may assist in shortening
the process of improvement by breeding.
_Hicoria Pecan._ This is undoubtedly the best of all the native nuts,
and the most worth while improving. The great popularity which this form
of hickory enjoys in the South is undoubtedly due in considerable
measure to the fact that it is adapted to a considerable range of
territory. This adaptation is the natural acquirement of many years'
evolution.
At this time of the year, one sees in fruiterers' shops in New York and
other cities appetizing looking baskets, containing cracked shagbarks
and pecans. These nuts are enjoying a large share of popularity at the
hands of the consumers. As these two forms are exhibited together, the
observer may note the essential good qualities of each, and he may make
a mental picture of the possibilities of a union which would eliminate
the undesirable features and combine the desirable. The lack of
hardiness of the pecan would be strengthened by the hardy northern form,
while the breeder would aim to retain the excellent flavors of each, the
good qualities of meat, but enclosed by a covering of paper shell
texture. We want the hardiness and adaptability of the shellbark,
combined with the thin shell, the excellent cracking qualities, and the
pleasant flavors of the pecan. Here is a truly attractive field. The
fact that returns may be rather slow in maturing should not deter the
plant breeder, for sometimes prizes come quickly. Of course the field is
one which appeals more strongly to the institution of indefinite life
tenure than to the individual whose years of activity are relatively
brief.
What nature has done in the way of extending the range of the pecan
northward has been clearly set forth in the excellent paper presented by
Mr. Littlepage. This indigenous movement from the natural zone of the
pecan towards the North and East has undoubtedly been infinitely slow.
The important fact has been established, however, that not only has
nature extended the natural range in the directions indicated, but Mr.
Littlepage has shown that here and there a variety of exceptional merit
has appeared, fortuitously and without assistance or guidance from man.
These superior varieties are being placed under observation by
interested nut enthusiasts like Messrs. Littlepage, Niblack, and McCoy,
and others, who are not only studying the nut in its native haunts, but
are experimenting with methods of propagation so that we may confidently
look forward to a stable supply of these natural selections in the years
near at hand.
Here, then, we have the material for founding new races of northern nuts
by combining them with our best hardy hickories. Who will gainsay the
prophecy that not far distant is the day when we may expect new hybrid
strains of great economical importance arising from the union of our
northern hickories with the most northerly forms of the pecan? Shall we
designate these hybrids as "shellcans," "shagcans," or "hickcans," after
the nomenclatural methods of present day plant breeders? The splendid
work of our President in the interbreeding of northern types of nuts
gives us strong hope to expect results of this nature.
In the matter of propagation we have learned certain essential
fundamentals. First and most important is the firmly established fact
that southern, pecan stocks are unsafe and generally unreliable in the
region of the northern hickory. We must grow our own stocks from
northern nuts. We must propagate by using home grown material
exclusively, and as to methods of propagation, it is probable that we
can follow in general the practice of the southern nurseryman, but
unquestionably modifications in procedure will arise out of the sum of
our experience which will tend each year to bring a larger measure of
success.
This Association will perform an invaluable service in collecting these
various experiences, winnowing the sound from the unsound, and
disseminating safe deductions and reliable principles to the rapidly
increasing band of nut culturists throughout the region of its
activities. Our second session has been an unqualified success. May this
meeting be surpassed in respect to enthusiasm manifested, experience and
knowledge disseminated, by each of the annual conferences to be held in
the years to come.
President Morris: Discussion as to the next place of meeting is in
order.
Mr. Rush: I would certainly be very glad to entertain the Northern Nut
Growers' Association at Lancaster City, Pennsylvania, and will assure
you in advance that I will give you the best hospitality that the
country can afford. We have now associated with the walnut interests in
Lancaster County Mr. Jones of Jeanerette, Louisiana, who has been
through that section and is pleased with the work that is being done
there. I think it may be policy for the Association to meet there. We
can have our night session, and be absent several hours in the morning
and look over some of the work. Mr. Jones contemplates topgrafting
hickory trees at his new home, and we can have the opportunity of seeing
with what success he meets.
The Association voted to accept Mr. Rush's invitation.
President Morris: We will hear the report of the Committee on
Resolutions.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED BY THE NORTHERN NUT GROWERS ASSOCIATION,
December 15, 1911.
(Read by Reed.)
Be It Resolved:
That the Northern Nut Growers' Association assembled does hereby express
its sincere thanks to the President and Faculty of Cornell University
for placing at its disposal the facilities for holding its convention at
this time.
That special thanks be extended to Dean L. H. Bailey of the College of
Agriculture for the invitation to meet at this place and to Prof. John
Craig for his many courtesies shown the Association and its individual
members.
That we hereby express our thanks to President Morris and Secretary
Deming for their labor and untiring efforts to bring about a successful
meeting.
That we also tender our thanks to President Morris for the liberal
premiums offered for nut exhibits and to the many who have responded.
That special attention be called to "The Morris Collection of the Edible
Nuts of the World," maintained at this place by Dr. Robt. T. Morris,
President of this Association. This collection is of the greatest
possible educational value to those interested in the study of nuts and
nut products.
That, in view of the distribution and rapid spread of the disease known
as "Chestnut Blight," especially among the American species, we express
our hearty approval of the efforts being made by the federal government,
the several state departments and especially the action of the
Pennsylvania State Legislature in appropriating the sum of $275,000.00
to aid in studying and combatting this dread disease, and
That we urge the importance of continued efforts along these lines and
similar action in all other states in which the chestnut species is of
commercial importance, either for timber or nut purposes.
That the Secretary be instructed to send a copy of these resolutions to
Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, at Washington, D. C, and to
Commissioner of Agriculture or Director of Experiment Stations of such
states as within which, according to his judgment, the chestnut species
may be of sufficient importance to justify such action.
C. A. REED,
T. P. LITTLEPAGE,
GEO. C. SCHEMPP, JR.,
_Committee_.
(Read by Littlepage.)
That we thank Messrs. Collins, Reed, and Lake of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture for attendance at this meeting and for their valuable
information and assistance, and furthermore that we respect-fully invite
them to attend the next annual meeting, and in the meantime lend the
Executive Committee their assistance in making plans for next season's
work and in carrying out the purposes of our organization.
T. P. LITTLEPAGE,
GEO. C. SCHEMPP, JR.
The Association voted to adopt these resolutions. President Morris: We
will adjourn, and the Committee on Competition will meet this afternoon
for examination of specimens and decisions in regard to the respective
values of the different specimens exhibited.
APPENDIX
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
Those in attendance at the meeting were as follows:
Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York City, President
Mr. T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C, Vice-President
Dr. W. C. Deming, Westchester, New York City, Secretary-Treasurer
Prof. John Craig, Ithaca, N. Y., Chairman of the Executive Committee
Mr. C. A. Reed of the U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, Special Agent Field
Investigations in Pomology
Mr. J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
Prof. J. Franklin Collins, Forest Pathologist, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture
Prof. E. R. Lake, Assistant Pomologist, U. S Dept, of Agriculture.
Col. C. A. Van Duzee, St. Paul, Minn., and Viking, Fla.
Mrs. W. C. Deming, Redding, Conn.
Mr. W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Va, Editor American Fruit & Nut Journal
Mr. Leonard Barron, Editor Country Life in America, Garden City, L. I.
Mr. A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, N. Y.
Professors Crosby, de Garmo, Tuck, Herrick, Drew, of the University.
Mr. J. A. Holmes, Ithaca, N. Y.
Mr. Geo. S. Tarbell, Ithaca, N. Y.
Mr. G. C. Schempp, Jr., Albany, Ga.
Mr. H. Brown and Mr. S. V. Wilcox, representing Thos. Meehan & Sons,
Germantown, Pa.
Mr. F. M. Rites, Slaterville Springs, N. Y.
Students of the University and others.
The thanks of the association are due Professor Craig for his
contribution to the purposes of the convention of the services of his
private stenographer which made possible a complete record of all the
proceedings and discussions. The success of the meeting is largely due
to the thorough preparation made by Professor Craig.
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON EXHIBITS.
By Department of Horticulture, New York State College of Agriculture.
A collection of the walnuts of commerce, comprising 35 varieties, shown
with a specimen of each in section.
A collection of 28 varieties of filberts.
A collection of 35 varieties of pecans.
The Morris collection of edible nuts of the world. This includes not
only the nuts of the North, but the fullest collection of the nuts of
the tropics that has ever been brought together.
By J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pennsylvania.
Two plates of black walnuts; one plate showing hybridity between Persian
walnut and butternut; one plate Paragon chestnuts; one plate especially
large American sweet chestnuts.
By A. C. Pomeroy, Lockport, New York.
Four plates of walnuts, showing variation of seedlings; grown on trees
varying from six to eight years old.
By W. N. Roper, Petersburg, Virginia.
One plate Mantura pecans.
By T. P. Littlepage, Washington, D. C.
An exhibit of eighteen varieties of seedling pecans, grown in the Wabash
region of Indiana and Kentucky. These seedlings represent very promising
varieties, some of them being exceedingly thin shelled, most of them
well filled and symmetrical in form. Of these, five have been named, to
wit: Greenriver, Warwick, Hodge, Hoosier, and Major. Mr. Littlepage
exhibits a plate of _Juglans regia_ and a fine sample of _Juglans
nigra_.
PRIZE NUTS.
Announcement by the President.
In the interest of science and of American horticulture the Northern Nut
Growers Association is making an effort to find nut trees of various
kinds which produce superior nuts which can be used for propagation.
Prizes for special lots of nuts are offered.
Each lot of nuts sent for prize competition is to consist of twelve nuts
from one tree, and the location of the tree is to be well marked, so
that no mistake can be made later if cuttings are to be purchased from
the owner or finder of the tree.
Nuts are to be sent by mail in a box or bag containing a card with the
name and address of the sender plainly written. At the same time a
letter is to be written separately, describing the tree in a general
way, and giving the name of the town in which it grows.
Packages of nuts and descriptive letters are to be addressed to
PROFESSOR JOHN CRAIG,
Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.
and all specimens must be sent by November 15, 1911.
In former years it has happened that several people from the same town
have sent nuts from the same tree. Under these circumstances, if the
nuts take a prize, the prize must be given according to the date of the
first specimens sent.
In addition to the prizes given, valuable varieties receive the name of
the person sending them, and this goes on record permanently.
The sender of these nuts will often have opportunity to sell cuttings
from the tree later at the common rate of five cents per foot.
Prizes are offered for the following nuts:
1st prize is to be two dollars,
2nd prize is to be one dollar,
and the amount of postage will be returned for all lots of nuts sent
which do not receive prizes.
SHAGBARK OR SCALY BARK HICKORY (_Hicoria Ovata_).
Class A. Large thin shelled nuts.
Class B. Very small thin shelled nuts.
SHELLBARK HICKORY, KING NUT, BIG BUD HICKORY (_H. laciniosa_).
Size is particularly desired with this species, but thinness of shell
counts high.
PECAN (_H. pecan_).
Pecans sent for competition must be native nuts from New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky,
Indiana and Ohio only, as these nuts are desired for northern
horticulture.
OTHER HICKORIES.
Sometimes a tree of various other kinds of hickories will produce a very
desirable nut; consequently first and second prizes are offered for any
hickory nut not belonging to the above three kinds.
BLACK WALNUT (_Juglans nigra_).
Thin shelled black walnuts of good quality are desired.
BUTTERNUT, WHITE WALNUT (_Juglans cinerea_).
Size and thinness of shell are most important.
PERSIAN WALNUT, ENGLISH WALNUT (_Juglans regia_).
American grown varieties the only ones receiving prizes.
ASIATIC WALNUTS (_Juglans cordiformis_, _J. Sieboldi_, _J. Sibirica_).
American grown varieties the only ones receiving prizes.
BEECHNUT.
Size stands first for prize qualifications for Beechnuts.
AMERICAN HAZELS.
Thinness of shell and size are most important.
CHINQUAPIN (_Castanea pumila_).
Size is the most important qualification for this species.
CHESTNUTS.
On account of the rapid spread of the chestnut blight no other kinds of
chestnut besides Chinquapins are desired at present.
FREAK NUTS.
Remarkable freaks of any species of edible nuts may win prizes. For
instance, a black Walnut with meat growing in only one half of each
shell.
R. T. MORRIS, New York City,
President Northern Nut Growers Association.
PRIZES AWARDED IN THE RESULTING COMPETITION.
1. _Hicoria ovata_
Plate II, first prize:
Plate I, second prize: Exhibited by Theron E. Platt, Newtown, Conn.
2. _Hicoria pecan_
Mantura, first prize: W. N. Roper, Petersburg. Va.
Major, second prize: T. P. Littlepage, Union Trust Building,
Washington, D. C.
3. _Hicoria laciniosa_
First and second prizes: C. N. Stem, Sabillasville, Md.
4. _Persian walnut_
Nebo, first prize: J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
Holden, second prize: E. B. Holden, Hilton, N. Y.
5. _Asiatic walnut_
Juglans Sieboldiana, first prize: J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
6. _Chinquapin_
No. 2, first prize: J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa
No. 1, second prize: J. G. Rush, West Willow, Pa.
7. _Freak nuts_
Hickory No. 4, first prize: Lillie E. Johnson, Gowanda, N. Y.
8. _Butternuts_
First prize: Mrs. Albina Simonds, South Royalton, Vt.
9. _Beechnuts_
First prize: Malcolm Newell, West Wardsboro, Vt.
Second prize: William Davis, Rutland, Vt.
10. _Black walnuts_
First prize: J. J. Robinson, Lamont, Mich.
Second prize: Dorothy McGrew, R.F.D. 6, Box 77, Kent, O.
The prizes awarded in this competition were contributed personally by
the President.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE NOMENCLATURE OF JUGLANS MANDSHURICA AND
THE SHELLBARK HICKORIES.
The following are the questions sent by the secretary and the answers
received:
As there seems to be a difference of opinion as to the identity of
'Juglans mandshurica' will you be so kind as to answer the following
questions for the benefit of the Northern Nut Growers' Association at
their annual meeting at Ithaca, New York, Dec. 14 and 15, 1911.
Q. 1 What type of nut do you consider the "Juglans mandshurica" to be?
J. H. Black, Hightstown, N. J.: Probably a Juglans Regia Manchuria.
T. E Steele, Palmyra, N. J.: No resemblance to Persian walnut but very
similar to butternut, a little longer and thicker than butternut and of
little better quality.
Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, Cal.: Nigra, or the connecting link between
butternut, eastern black walnut and a trace of Sieboldi especially in
foliage.
H. E. Van Deman, Washington, D. C.: It is almost identical with J.
Sieboldiana.
J. M. Thorburn & Co., 33 Barclay St., N. Y. City.: Our idea of the type
is that it resembles very closely in size, form and color of the shell
the English walnut or Juglans regia, though the shell is thicker and the
quality of the kernel has not the pleasant flavor of the Juglans regia.
Q 2 Does it resemble the Persian walnut or the butternut?
J. S. Black: Persian.
T. E. Steele: (See Q. 1).
Luther Burbank: (Does it resemble the Persian walnut--) _No._ (--or the
butternut?) Very much in nut but less elongated and not pointed. _Very_
thick shell.
H. E. Van Deman: Not similar to either of them.
J. M. Thorburn & Co.: (See Q. 1).
Q. 3 Is it a nut of commercial or other value?
J. S. Black: Yes.
T. E. Steele: I hardly think it a nut of commercial value as the shell
is too thick. I should not consider it much better than the butternut.
Luther Burbank: Hardly unless improved. Meat sweet like butternut.
Juglans Sieboldi var. Cordiformis is the very best of this type, thin
shell, _very_ sweet meats. Both these nuts vary _very_ widely in form.
H. E. Van Deman: Only of value as a shade tree or as a stock from which
to make crosses.
J. M Thorburn and Co.: As far as we know it has no commercial value
here. We sell it only for seed purposes.
Q. 4 How was it introduced into this country?
J. S. Black: By Yokohama Nursery Co. of New York City.
T. E. Steele: I do not know.
Luther Burbank: Some twenty years ago both by myself and the Arnold
Herbarium of Newtown, Mass.
H. E. Van Deman: By nuts from Manchuria, I have always understood.
J. M. Thorburn & Co.: We cannot tell. We purchase direct from Japan.
Q. 5 What are the characteristics of the tree?
J. S. Black: Very similar but hardier than Persian.
T. E. Steele: Very similar in growth to that of the Japan walnut, not
unlike the butternut. In fact many call them butternuts, but Mr. Van
Deman was quite sure they were the Mandshurica when he picked one from
the tree I have in mind.
Luther Burbank: Much like Sieboldi.
Van Deman: Very thrifty and luxuriant with large leaves and large
growth. Bark light colored.
J. M. Thorburn & Co.: It is a broad-headed tree growing about 60 feet
high.
Q. 6 Have you raised them yourself or can you say who has?
J. S. Black: We have raised trees but not the nuts.
T. E. Steele: I have never raised them and know of no one who has.
Luther Burbank: Young trees. My one tree is more spready than other
walnuts, and so far though old does not bear.
Van Deman: No, I have not grown the trees. Think John or Wm. Parry of
Parry, N. J., have them. I have J. Cordiformis.
J. M. Thorburn & Co: We have never raised them ourselves.
Q. 7 Can you send samples or say where they can be obtained?
J. S. Black: We can furnish trees. Get nuts from Yokohama Nursery Co.,
New York City.
T. E. Steele: I know of but one tree near here, and I am mailing you one
nut that I gathered a year or two ago, too long ago to be of any value
except to show the character of the nut. If I can procure another nut or
two of this year's growth I will do so and mail to you.
Luther Burbank: Have no samples but enclose usual form. From half shell.
(Drawings of this, of the surface character of the nut, and of "size and
form of a common sieboldi.")
H. E. Van Deman: Perhaps from the Parrys.
No replies were received from R. E. Smith, of the California
Agricultural Experiment Station, Whittier; from Jackson Dawson, of the
Arnold Arboretum; or from the Yokohama Nursery Co., 31 Barclay St., N.
Y. City.
Summary of Dr. Morris's investigations as given by him on p. 12: The nut
described in the U. S. bulletin as _Juglans mandshurica_ is the one
originally described and named by Maxim more than thirty years ago and
is a nut of the butternut type. A few years ago the Yokohama Nursery
Co., not knowing that this name had been previously applied, gave it to
a nut of the _Juglans regia_ type which they distributed. This nut had
been previously named by De Candolle, _Juglans regia sinensis_.
NOMENCLATURE OF THE SHELLBARK HICKORIES.
The names "shellbark," "shagbark" and "scalybark" are at present used
interchangeably by authors for different species of the hickory. It is
advised that the Association take an arbitrary stand on the nomenclature
and state our choice of the name "shagbark" for _Hicoria ovata_,
"shellbark" for _Hicoria laciniosa_ and "scalybark" for _Hicoria
Carolinae-septentrionalis_.
This should become a matter of official record and eventually clear up
the confusion.
THE HICKORY BARK BORER.
In Country Life in America for October 15, 1911, there appeared an
article entitled "Warning!--The Hickory Bark Borer is With Us" by
Hermann W. Merkel, Forester of the New York Zoological Gardens.
The following circular was issued by E. F. Felt, New York State
Entomologist, under date of Oct. 31, 1911.
DYING HICKORY TREES.
Numerous magnificent hickories have been killed by the pernicious
hickory bark borer in the vicinity of New York city. It has
destroyed thousands of trees in the central part of the State,
while recent investigations show that it is at work in the Hudson
valley near Tivoli and probably is injurious in numerous other
places. The severe droughts of the last two or three years have
undoubtedly been favorable to the development of this pest, since
the vitality of many trees has been lowered and they have thus been
rendered more susceptible to attack by insect enemies.
The preliminary signs of injury, such as wilting leaves and dead
twigs in mid-summer are exceedingly important because they indicate
serious trouble before it has passed the remedial stage.
Examination of injured trees at the present time may show particles
of brown or white sawdust in the crevices of the bark, and in the
case of some a few to many circular holes appearing as though they
had been made by number 8 buckshot. This external evidence should
be supplemented by cutting down to the sapwood. The exposure there
of the longitudinal galleries 1 to 1-1/2 inches long, about 1/8 of
an inch in diameter and with numerous fine, transverse galleries
arising therefrom and gradually spreading out somewhat fan-shaped,
is conclusive evidence as to the identity of this pest. Only a
little experience is necessary before one can recognize the work of
this borer.
The insect passes the winter in oval cells as stout, whitish,
brown-headed grubs about 1/4 of an inch long, the beetles appearing
from the last of June to the last of July. Badly injured trees are
beyond hope and should be cut some time during the winter and the
bark burned before the beetles can emerge; otherwise many will
mature and attack other trees next spring. It is particularly
important to locate the trees which have died wholly or in part the
past summer, because they contain grubs likely to mature and then
be the source of trouble another year. General cooperation in the
cutting out of infested trees and burning of the bark as indicated
above will do much to check this enemy of our hickories.
E. P. PELT.
State Entomologist.
The following "Press Notice" was issued by the U. S. Department of
Agriculture under date of Nov. 15, 1911:--
THE DYING HICKORY TREES,--CAUSE AND REMEDY.
Within the past ten years a large percentage of the hickory trees
have died in various sections throughout the northern tier of
States from Wisconsin to Vermont and southward through the Atlantic
States to central Georgia and to a greater or less extent within
the entire range of natural growth of the various species.
CAUSE.
While there are several and sometimes complicated causes of the
death of the trees, investigations by experts of the Bureau of
Entomology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, have revealed the fact
that the hickory barkbeetle is by far the most destructive insect
enemy and is therefore, in the majority of cases, the primary cause
of the dying of the trees.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE THE WORK OF THE BEETLE.
The first evidence of the presence and work of the beetle is the
premature dying or falling of a few of the leaves in July and
August caused by the adult or parent beetles feeding on the bark at
the base of the leaf stem, but this work alone does not kill the
trees.
The next evidence of its destructive work is the dying of part of a
tree or all of one or more trees. If the trees are dying from the
attack of the beetle, an examination of the inner bark and surface
of the wood on the main trunks will reveal curious centipede-like
burrows in the bark and grooved on the surface of the wood. These
are galleries and burrows of the parent beetles and of their broods
of young grubs or larvae. The girdling effect of these galleries is
the real cause of the death of the trees.
HABITS OF THE BEETLES.
The broods of the beetle pass the winter in the bark of the trees
that die during the preceding summer and fall. During the warm days
of March and April these overwintered broods complete their
development to the adult winged form, which during May and June
emerge through small round holes in the bark and fly to the living
trees. They then attack the twigs to feed on the base of the leaves
and tender bark and concentrate in the bark of the trunks and large
branches of some of the living healthy trees and bore through the
bark to excavate their short vertical egg galleries. The eggs are
deposited along the sides of these galleries and the larvae
hatching from them excavate the radiating food burrows which serve
to girdle the tree or branch.
The following recommendations for the successful control of this
beetle are based on investigations, experiments and demonstrations
conducted by the experts on forest insects of the Bureau of
Entomology during the past 10 years.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
1. The best time to conduct the control work is between October 1st
and May 1st, but must be completed before the 1st to middle of May
in order to destroy the broods of the beetle before they begin to
emerge.
2. The hickory trees within an area of several square miles that
died during the summer and fall and those of which part or all of
the tops or large branches died should be located and marked with
white paint or otherwise.
3. Fell the marked dead trees and cut out all dead branches or the
tops of the remaining marked trees which still have sufficient life
to make a new growth of branches.
4. Dispose of all infested trunks and branches in such a manner as
to kill the overwintering broods of the beetles in the bark; (a) by
utilizing the wood for commercial products and burning the refuse;
or (b) utilizing the wood of the trunks and branches for fuel; or
(c) by placing the logs in water and burning the branches and tops;
or (d) by removing the infected bark from the trunks or logs and
burning it with the branches or as fuel.
5. So far as combating the beetle is concerned it is unnecessary
and a waste of time to dispose of trees or branches which have been
dead 12 months or more, because the broods of the destructive
beetle are not to be found in such trees.
6. Spraying the tops or branches or the application of any
substance as a preventive is not to be recommended. Nothing will
save a tree after the main trunk is attacked by large numbers of
this beetle or after the bark and foliage begin to die.
7. The injuries to the twigs by this beetle do not require
treatment.
8. The bark and wood of dying and dead trees are almost invariably
infested with many kinds of bark and wood-boring insects which can
do no harm to living trees. Therefore all efforts should be
concentrated on the disposal of the broods of the hickory
barkbeetle, according to the above recommendations.
In order to insure the protection of the remaining living trees it
is very important that at least a large majority of the dead
infested and partially dead infested trees found within an entire
community of several square miles be disposed of within a single
season to kill the broods of this beetle. Therefore there should be
concerted action by all owners of hickory trees.
On account of the value of the hickory for shade and nuts and for
many commercial wood products it is important that the people of a
community, county or state who are in any manner interested in the
protection of this class of trees, should give encouragement and
support to any concerted or cooperative effort on the part of the
owners towards the proper control of the hickory bark beetle.
The following is an extract from a letter from Dr. Felt to Mr. Merkel:
"Replying to yours of the 11th inst. I would state that Chapter 798 of
the Laws of 1911, a copy of which is enclosed herewith, is, in my
estimation, sufficiently comprehensive to include such an insect as the
hickory bark borer."
"It is certainly extremely unfortunate that trees past hope and infested
by thousands of insects liable to destroy those in the vicinity, should
be left standing through the winter and the pests allowed to mature and
continue their nefarious work, especially as they could be checked at a
comparatively slight expense and by the adoption of measures which
ultimately must be carried out unless the trees are allowed to decay in
the field. I am much interested in the matter."
The following are extracts from a letter from Dr. Felt to the Secretary,
under date of Nov. 21, 1911:
"Your of the 19th is at hand and it gives me pleasure to enclose
herewith a copy of a circular summarizing the hickory bark beetle
situation in this State and suggesting the prompt adoption of remedial
measures. This pest, as you are doubtless aware, is very injurious and
has been responsible for the destruction of thousands of hickories, not
only in the Hudson valley but also during recent years in the central
part of the State. Only a few weeks ago we found a rather bad
infestation in the vicinity of Tivoli. You are doubtless familiar with
my article on this pest, published in Insects Affecting Park and
Woodland Trees, N. Y. State Museum Memoir 8, Volume I, pages 275-79."
At the annual meeting of the Northern Nut Growers' Association, held
December 14th and 15th, 1911, at the New York State College of
Agriculture, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, the following
resolutions were adopted:
"Be it resolved that, in view of the distribution and rapid spread of
the disease known as the "Chestnut Blight," especially among the
American species, we express our hearty approval of the efforts being
made by the federal government, the several state departments, and
especially the action of the Pennsylvania state legislature in
appropriating the sum of $275,000 to aid in studying and combating this
dread disease; and
That we urge the importance of continued efforts along these lines, and
similar action in all other states in which the chestnut species is of
commercial importance, either for timber or nut purposes.
That the secretary be instructed to send a copy of these resolutions to
the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, at Washington, D. C.
and to the Commissioner of Agriculture or the Director of Experiment
Stations of the states within which, according to his judgment, the
chestnut species may be of sufficient importance to justify such action.
Attention is called especially to Farmers' Bulletin No. 467, "The
Control of the Chestnut Bark Disease," Issued Oct. 25th, 1911, by the U.
S. Dept, of Agriculture.
And be it further resolved that, in view of the depredations in various
parts of the country by the "Hickory Bark Beetle," to which attention
has been called by a press notice of the U. S. Department of
Agriculture, by a circular issued by Dr. E. P Pelt, Entomologist of the
State of New York, by an article entitled "Warning;--The Hickory Bark
Borer is with Us," by Herman W. Merkel, Forester of the New York
Zoological Park, published in Country Life in America, Oct. 15th, 1911,
and by an address before the annual meeting of this association by Prof.
Herrick of the New York State College of Agriculture; and
In view of the presence of this destructive insect throughout the
eastern states, and as far south and west as Mississippi and Nebraska;
and
In view of the presumption that its introduction into the pecan area of
the United States would be a calamity; and
In view further of the fact that it has been demonstrated that prompt
action in the destruction of infested trees will prevent further spread
of this pest, and that it is of the utmost importance that such action
should be taken before the emergence of a new brood of this beetle in
the spring of the year;
The Secretary be instructed to present these resolutions to the Hon.
James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and to the
Commissioners of Agriculture of New York and other states where the
hickory bark beetle is a menace, urging immediate and energetic measures
against the spread of this dangerous pest which in many localities
threatens the hickory tree with serious destruction."
Jan. 31, 1912.
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY TO HON. CALVIN J. HUSON.
The Honorable Calvin J. Huson,
Commissioner of Agriculture,
Albany, New York.
Sir:--
I have the honor to transmit herewith the resolutions passed by the
Northern Nut Growers' Association at its annual meeting held at the New
York State College of Agriculture, Ithaca, New York, Dec. 14th and 15th,
1911.
In connection with these resolutions I wish to recall to your attention
the fact that by the Laws of New York, Chap 798, entitled "AN ACT to
amend the agricultural law, in relation to fungous growths and
infectious and contagious diseases affecting trees," which became a law
July 26th, 1911, the Commissioner of Agriculture is given full power to
deal summarily with these and other pests.
The testimony of all those fully acquainted with the facts concerning
the "chestnut bark disease," and the "hickory bark borer" is
unanimously to the effect that they have done such an amount of damage,
and threaten such continued destruction, as to demand that every effort
be made to check their ravages, and that even large expense will be
inconsiderable in comparison with the enormous loss that will be
inflicted if these most destructive pests are not checked.
Attention has been called in the resolutions to the action of the state
of Pennsylvania in appropriating the sum of $275,000 for taking action
in the case of the chestnut bark disease. Since the passage of these
resolutions it is reported that the Governor of the state of
Pennsylvania has called a conference to be held at Harrisburg, February
21st and 22nd, for the purpose of considering further action to be taken
in the case of this disease. It might be well that your office should be
represented at this conference in order that the united action of the
states may be brought about and that our state may not continue to lag
behind in a matter so seriously affecting so many of its inhabitants.
Detailed information concerning both these diseases is contained in the
literature to which reference is made in the resolutions.
May I ask if you will kindly inform me what action, if any, has been
taken by the Commissioner of Agriculture, or other department of the
state government, for the study or the control of either of the diseases
referred to.
REPLY FROM THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE.
Feb. 7, 1912.
I have your communication of the 1st inst., duly received and containing
the resolutions passed by the Northern Nut Growers Association at its
meeting in Ithaca on the 14th and 15th of December last.
Chapter 798 of the Laws of 1911 constitute Sections 304 and 305 of the
Agricultural Law, under which this Department has been working for
several years for the control of such insects as are distributable by
nursery stock, and for the preventing of the establishment in the state
of dangerously injurious insect pests and fungous diseases. If the
Department were to attempt to control the hickory bark borer, it would
require a character of work quite different from anything that we have
undertaken for the reason that this insect would not likely be
distributed in nursery stock. It is an insect that is not only a native
of the country but is quite widely distributed over the state and is one
that is given to irregular periodic outbreaks. Of late its depredations
have shown seriously in the vicinity of New York along the Hudson Valley
and at numerous places in the state. The pest is not amenable to such
treatment as can be used against many other deleterious insects. I am
informed that the only way now known to control the insect is to first
locate it and then destroy all trees or parts of trees in which the
grubs are found before the middle of June. It appears to me that to
attempt the suppression of the hickory bark borer, it would require a
very large force of men and, of course, considerable money.
Relative to the chestnut bark disease, we had a conference at this
office in the month of October last and the question was discussed by
botanists and foresters from adjoining states and the whole matter was
thoroughly thrashed out by those who were present, including
representatives of the United States Department of Agriculture,
Washington. Invitations have been received from the Governor of
Pennsylvania to a conference to be held at Harrisburg on February 20th
and 21st and I have directed a representative of this Department to be
present.
Mr. C. H. Pettis, Superintendent of Forests of the State Conservation
Commission, joined in our conference here and I learn that someone will
be sent from that Commission to Harrisburg.
We have in the hickory bark borer and the chestnut bark disease, two
very serious propositions, the importance of which I fully appreciate.
It is not clear to me what methods should or can be adopted which will
be productive of the greatest good.
Any suggestions that your Association make will be highly appreciated.
As soon as I learn of the result of the conclusions at the Harrisburg
meeting, I shall be pleased to take the subject up again.
Very truly yours,
CALVIN J. HUSON,
Commissioner.
LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY TO COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE.
March 16th, 1912.
Hon. Calvin J. Huson,
Commissioner of Agriculture,
Albany, New York.
Dear Sir:--
Your letter of February 7th in reply to mine of an earlier date in
relation to the hickory bark beetle has been too long unanswered owing
to a rush of professional and other work. I regret this delay as I would
like to do all that I can to expedite the work which should be done as
soon as possible to prevent further damage from this insect.
If I am not mistaken Chapter 798 of the laws of 1911 is a new law under
which the Department has not previously worked and which states
specifically that "no person shall knowingly or willfully keep any
plants or vines affected or infected with--or other insect pest or
fungous disease dangerously injurious to or destructive of the trees,
shrubs or other plants; every such tree, shrub, plant or vine shall be a
public nuisance, etc." It also states that if the Commissioner of
Agriculture is notified of the presence of any such pests he shall take
such action as the law provides, and the law provides for the
destruction or treatment of diseased trees.
This law appears to be not confined in its application to nursery stock,
and in this view I am supported by such men as Dr. E. P. Felt, State
Entomologist, and Forester Merkel of the New York Zoological Park. It
appears that the Commissioner of Agriculture not only has the right but
it is his duty to take action under this law when his attention is
called to a matter such as the one in question.
The methods of procedure under this law seem to be sufficiently clear.
Wherever infected trees are known to exist the Commissioner is directed
to order the owners thereof to destroy them. Failure to obey these
orders constitutes a misdemeanor and the Commissioner may have his
orders carried out by his own agents.
I am glad that you fully appreciate the serious nature of this pest
which threatens great destruction of one of our most valuable timber and
nut trees and I hope that no obstacle will be allowed to stand in the
way of the enforcement of the full intent of the law.
This Association will aid such work in any way in its power.
I would like to call to your attention a report in the Yearbook of the
U. S. Department of Agriculture for 1903, page 317, of the successful
treatment of an outbreak of this pest at Detroit, Michigan. Also to an
address to be published in the transactions of this Association, a copy
of which I will send you, by Prof. Herrick in which he recounts the
successful treatment of another outbreak.
April 3, 1912.
W. C. Deming, M. D.,
Sec., Northern Nut Growers' Association,
Westchester, New York City.
Dear Sir:--
I am in receipt of your communication of the 16th of March, and have
considered carefully the question of what can be done towards the
control of the hickory bark beetle. As this is a species which at
irregular intervals becomes abundant and capable of doing considerable
local damage, yet I am inclined to think that so far as the Department
of Agriculture can exercise any control, the hickory bark beetle should
be classed among such pests as in a way have like habits of injury, such
for instance as the apple tent caterpillar, forest tent caterpillar,
green maple worm, fruit tree bark beetle, pine bark beetle, and other
thoroughly established native and introduced species, all of which exert
injuries at irregular intervals and then disappear. The hickory bark
beetle suggests one of the problems which is difficult to handle, and it
does not seem that much can be accomplished in a practical way by
starting an agitation on the subject. The entomologist of the New York
Agricultural Experiment Station, Geneva, says that the insect is common
around Geneva, and nearly every season an occasional tree succumbs to
its work. He further says that he believes that hickory trees have some
time in the past suffered from either a severe winter or drought, and
that the shot-hole borer is attacking the weakened trees.
Owing to wide distribution, I do not see how I can direct a campaign
against this particular insect at this time for the lack of funds. The
appropriations at my disposal under Sections 304-305 of the Agricultural
Law, are scarcely adequate for the large amount of work which has
already been started, and which, owing to its nature, must be kept up
and finished each season.
It is my opinion that general publicity would result in accomplishing
much, if individual owners were informed how necessary it is to seek out
and destroy the dead trees before the 1st of June, in order to prevent
the insects attacking healthy trees adjoining. The habits of these
insects are thoroughly known and their life histories have been worked
out by our entomologists, and very definite information can be given for
the control of the hickory bark borer.
Very truly yours,
CALVIN J. HUSON,
Commissioner.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED AT THE CONFERENCE CALLED BY THE GOVERNOR OF
PENNSYLVANIA AT HARRISBURG FEB. 20 AND 21 FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE
MEASURES TO BE TAKEN TO CONTROL THE CHESTNUT-TREE BARK DISEASE:
WHEREAS this Conference recognizes the great importance of the chestnut
tree as one of our most valuable timber assets, having an estimated
value of not less than $400,000,000, and
WHEREAS a most virulent fungous disease has made its appearance in wide
sections of the chestnut timber region, and already many millions of
dollars of damage has been sustained, and the total extinction of the
chestnut tree is threatened by the rapid spread of this disease, and
WHEREAS we recognize the importance of prompt action.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:
That the thanks of this Conference are tendered to Governor Tener for
calling it, and for the courtesies he has shown
That we appreciate the interest of the President of the United States as
evidenced by his communication to Governor Tener, showing as it does,
that the head of the National Government is not unmindful of the great
danger presented by the Chestnut Blight problem.
That the Commission appointed by the Governor of Pennsylvania be
commended for the earnestness and diligence they have shown in the
conduct of their work.
That we urge the National Government, the States and the Dominion of
Canada to follow the example of Pennsylvania, which is analogous to that
of Massachusetts in starting the fight against the gypsey moth, and
appropriate an amount sufficient to enable their proper authorities to
cope with the disease where practicable.
That we favor the bill now before Congress appropriating $80,000 for the
use of the U. S. Department of Agriculture in Chestnut Bark Disease
work, and urge all States to use every means possible to aid in having
this bill become a law at the earliest moment.
That we believe trained and experienced men should be employed in field
and laboratory to study the diseases in all its phases.
That we believe definite boundaries should be established where
advisable in each State beyond which limits an endeavor should be made
to stamp out the disease.
That we believe an efficient and strong quarantine should be maintained
and that it should be the earnest effort of every state, the Federal
Government and the Dominion of Canada to prevent the spread of the
disease within and beyond their borders. In accord with this thought we
strongly commend the efforts being made to pass the Simmons bill now
before Congress.
That we believe strong efforts should be made in all States to stimulate
the utilization of chestnut products, and in order to do so, we
recommend that the Interstate Commerce Commission permit railroads and
other transportation companies to name low freight rates so that
chestnut products not liable to spread the disease may be properly
distributed.
That we recommend the National Government, each State and the Dominion
of Canada to publish practical, concise and well illustrated bulletins
for educating owners of chestnut trees.
That we believe further meetings on the line of this Conference
advisable and we hope the Pennsylvania Commission will arrange for
similar meetings.
That we thank the State of Pennsylvania for its intention to publish
immediately the proceedings of this Conference.
That copies of these resolutions be forwarded to the President of the
United States, to the Governor of every State, to the Governor General
of the Dominion of Canada, and the members of the Federal and State
legislatures, with the request that they do all in their power to aid in
checking the ravages of this dread disease.
* * * * *
WHITE'S
BUDDING TOOL
(PATENTED APRIL 1905)
PECANS, HICKORIES, CHESTNUTS
WALNUTS, PERSIMMONS
And all other trees
$2.75 DELIVERED
_A Scientific Instrument for the Propagation of the Pecan and other
Trees by the Annular, Semi-annular, Patch and Veneer Methods._
FOR SALE BY
HERBERT C. WHITE
DE WITT, GA.
* * * * *
Grafted and Budded Pecans and Catalpa Speciosa
The Ohio Valley Forest Nurseries of Lake, Indiana, is engaged in growing
forest tree seedlings of all kinds, but make a specialty of Catalpa
Speciosa seeds and seedlings that are true to name.
We are also engaged in the propagation of trees from the best varieties
of Northern Pecans found in the states of Indiana, Illinois and
Kentucky. Our supply of budded and grafted Pecan trees is limited at
this time, but we hope to be able to fill all orders by fall of 1912.
If interested in Pecan trees that will grow and bear nuts in the North,
write us for further information and prices.
R. L. McCoy, Proprietor;
Lake, Spencer Co., Indiana
* * * * *
Hardy Pecan and Walnut Trees
We grow hardy varieties of Pecans and Persian (English) Walnuts under
northern conditions for northern planting. Varieties of Pecans
introduced by us won all the premiums offered on Pecans in the Morris
Competition, at the December convention of Northern Nut Growers, Cornell
University, 1911. We are the pioneers in the growing of hardy pecan
trees. You get the benefit of our wide experience extending over several
years when you plant "Arrowfield" trees.
Our Persian (English) Walnut trees are of hardy northern types, budded
on black walnut stocks.
We shall have some unusually fine specimens for next season Let us book
your order, select some fine trees for you and bring them to prime
condition for delivery at such date as you may designate.
Write for our booklet "Nut Trees". It contains information that will
interest you.
ARROWFIELD NURSERIES
Box N, Petersburg, Va.
* * * * *
Get a Copy
The American Fruit and Nut Journal, of Petersburg, Va., is a bi-monthly
publication covering every phase of the Nut Industry from the Festek of
Greece and Assyria to the Chestnut, Almond, Walnut and Pecan of America.
It is ably edited, fully illustrated and handsomely printed.
If you want full, accurate, reliable information pertaining to every
phase of Nut Growing--varieties, cultures, insects, harvesting,
selling--If you want a practical paper that interests, inspires and
informs, read this Journal.
_Subscription price, one year, one dollar; three years, two dollars.
Write now for a sample copy._
American Fruit and Nut Journal
PETERSBURG VIRGINIA
* * * * *
NUT TREES
Why not plant NUT TREES about the home and combine profit with ornament
and shade. You may not need the revenue, but you will certainly enjoy
the nuts, if you plant Jones' budded and grafted trees. Nurseries at
Jeanerette, La., and Willow Street, Pa.
J. F. JONES
The Nut Tree Specialist Willow Street, Pa.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Second Annual Meeting - Ithaca, New York, December 14 and 15, 1911" ***
Copyright 2023 LibraryBlog. All rights reserved.