I have claimed there are two, or possibly, three forms of brooming disease, and I am still as convinced as ever. The so-called "witches-broom," as commonly seen in the Japanese walnut, is the form most people seem to think of. The second form is the rapid-growing type, that lops, or arches downward, is gray or green in color of wood, is very brittle and easily broken in the wind, ripping off good sized limbs, and winter-injures badly. An investigation, will, however, show much dead wood comes before severe weather. This form has some broomy, upright growth, like the first, but it is never bunched. The other, or possibly, the third form, is the latent type that doesn't seem to do much harm, merely causing poorly filled nuts. The latent form is difficult to note, and can be detected only by the many short, dead, or partly dead, upright twigs scattered along the main framework of older trees. Cutting off part of the top will cause the typical growth to arise, thus identifying itself.
Early observation showed that certain walnut varieties were almost unaffected, or could even be immune, to the brooming disease. Different limbs of a large tree were topworked to the Thomas and the Allen varieties of black walnut. The Allen "took" the disease at once, while the Thomas grew thriftily and has always produced good crops of nuts. Later, the Calhoun variety was grafted on some lower limbs, and has remained healthy. The diseased Allen grafts are still in the tree, are now 15 years old, and are more or less alive, but in very poor condition, with the signs as found in what I call the latent form. In 1938, the McDermid Persian walnut was grafted into this same tree, and its grafts produced good crops of nuts.
I wish to cite another instance of how little the Persian walnut is affected, regardless of variety. In 1938 a large black walnut near the house was grafted with Persian grafts, on stubs that had failed the previous year. The tree had the second, or rapid growing form, of brooming disease. I have pictures showing how badly the 1938 grafts took the rapid growing form of growth; while two 1937 Persian grafts showed no signs of trouble. The tree started to bear in 1941, and has made remarkable growth. It is now one of the nicest Persian walnut trees I have, bearing heavily every year. It is about 30 feet tall and 20 feet broad, with no apparent signs that it was ever affected.
I feel we should recognize the fact that eradication of brooming disease is impossible; but one should plant, or graft, those varieties known to bear good crops in spite of this trouble. The Thomas and Grundy black walnuts do very well here, as well as the two local nuts mentioned. I do not know of any Persian varieties affected. I do not have any Persian trees with the typical broomy bunch, as is so often seen in the Japanese walnut, and its hybrids. The native black walnuts, when affected, seem to fail to fill properly, are immature, and watery, black veined, and worthless at harvest time, shriveling to a dark, hard, kernel when cured.
I think this answers the oft-asked question, "Why do not my black walnuts fill as they used to?" There is a strange relation to the filling of the native black walnut and the days of 1934 and 1935, when we had the great walnut caterpillar scourge!—when the trees were stripped of all their leaves. Ever since, we have had the brooming disease to contend with. One could jump to the conclusion that improper filling and this trouble were caused by a lack of certain nutrients; but seedlings in nursery rows are often affected, even where they are given every care.
At one time this spring I thought I had found a new way of "bench-grafting" walnuts. Seven grafts, on black root, were made in December, and were planted directly in a frost-proof coldframe, as lilacs can be grafted. All seven grafts made good growth, that is, over three inches, by early May, but failed later. There is only one alive today, I do not think this an impossible method, but there must be a better way of handling to give success, such as attention to shading and careful watering. One may find more on this subject in "Propagation of Trees, Shrubs, and Conifers," by Wilfrid G. Sheat.
In our greenhouse work we have used several nutrient preparations, with poor to good results. There is one that has proved quite remarkable, and may be of use to the nut grower. Our concern has been to promote greener, healthier leaves, and the product "Ra-Pid-Gro" is most outstanding. Our tests in regards to nut growing are very limited. A pan of Chinese chestnut seed mixed in pure sand was set under the greenhouse bench last winter. The seed sprouted too early to be planted out, and trees have been left inside. Since the sand had no food value, Ra-Pid-Gro was applied to the leaves, allowing the drippings to go into the sand throughout the summer. Today, the little seedlings are indeed nice. Outside, a Persian walnut had yellow-toned leaves, and Ra-Pid-Gro was applied—now the leaves are green! It is amazing how quickly yellow leaves will become green. This appears to be a very useful product.
I believe we can have scions too dormant to graft!Last winter I had to make a new scion-box for storage, so copied it after the Harrington method, sinking it in the ground north of some evergreens. Scions have kept perfectly—maybe too perfectly—because they were absolutely dormant at grafting time, and have given poor success. It was rather late to save scionwood when I received an order to cut some of Mr. Hostetter's "Special Thomas" wood, so I cut a little extra for myself, and some wood from a little seedling Persian walnut that I wished to hasten by topworking. The buds were very much swollen that day, and the terminal buds were partly expanded. At grafting time I was quite surprised to find the wood I had cut late to be in exactly the same condition as it was the day I cut it. When grafted, every scion grew—all nine grafts made of the little Persian walnut were smaller than a lead pencil—and werepithyas well! This experience is so encouraging, I hope to have most of my wood in this advanced condition another year. Absolutely dormant wood might well be brought out of storage several days before grafting, in order to get it adjusted from winter to summer conditions.
DR. MacDANIELS: I think Dr. Crane is going to talk about the bunch disease tomorrow morning and will give us some indication about the work that has been done with that.
This matter of dormancy of scions we could probably get into an argument about, but that isn't the subject right now.
MR. CORSAN: I find that you mustn't go cutting back much. They don't like to be pruned. They are an open tree that grows a branch here, a branch there. They don't get anything like the dense branches of, say, the Turkish tree hazel. They are the very opposite, and they don't want to be pruned, and if you go pruning them, they are likely to have the witches'-broom.
MR. McDANIEL: There is another paper by Mr. Ward of Lafayette, Indiana, "The Carpathian Walnut in Indiana." The first part of it, the introduction, covers pretty much the same thing we have heard before from some of the other speakers about the Carpathian strains in this country.
The Carpathian Walnut in Indiana
Extension Horticulturist, Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana
The Carpathian or hardy Persian walnuts (Juglans regia), as grown in Indiana, are nearly all seedling trees resulting from the desire of some hobbyists to try something new. Other than a few exceptions, most of the seedling trees were planted during the period of 1934 to 1938. Credit is due to the Wisconsin Horticultural Society in offering the seedling nuts for sale and from these plantings numerous trees grew and fruited. A few test winters, with the temperature as low as minus 20 degrees F., left only those trees hardy in wood and bud. The seedling trees under observation have been fruiting for the past six to eight years, with some trees producing as much as five to six bushels of nuts per year.
The tree grows best in well drained, fertile soil and a bluegrass sod. Small amounts of nitrate fertilizer, about the same quantity used on fruit trees, have stimulated growth and no doubt have helped in the sizing up of the nuts. The tree does not do well under cultivation or mulching, as winter injury to the tree has been recorded when compared to bluegrass sod. There is also a possibility that the tree will respond to applications of liquid or soluble nitrates when mixed in spray materials. Six walnut trees were sprayed with "Nu Green" on May 9th and May 28th, 1950, using the same mixture as is recommended for apples—five pounds per 100 gallons of spray mix. These trees were observed weekly, and by late August had made more growth and gave better response than trees in comparable unsprayed rows. As the walnut trees are of different varieties, no definite comparisons may be drawn, but the trees so sprayed outgrew the unsprayed plot, although both plots had received a spring application of fertilizer of equal amount.
Set of Fruit Depends on Pollination
The best yields of fruit are found on trees that have a good pollinator close by. Oftentimes the catkins of the Persians dry up, fail to shed pollen when the pistillate flowers are receptive or fail to produce staminate flowers. It was noted early this spring that the catkins on the Persians were very few. Pollen was gathered from the butternut (Juglans cinerea) for pollinating the pistillate flowers that opened early. The mid-season flowers were pollenized with black walnut (Juglans nigra), and the later blooms were fertilized with pollen from the heartnut (Juglans sieboldiana cordiformis). Many of the pistillate flowers were bagged and remained receptive for a long period.
The best set of fruit on trees this year is on trees that have either the black walnut or the heartnut near by as pollinizers. The pollen from the butternut seemed to dwarf the fruit size on those trees where the pistillate flowers were bagged in the Purdue planting. We have little doubt that the Persian walnut develops a preponderance of pistillate flowers and relies on pollen from kindred species for a good set of fruit.
Nut Displays Have Educational Value
The interest in the Persian walnut in Indiana has developed to the extent that several commercial fruit growers have set out small acreages. Most of the trees are seedlings from trees previously fruited, although several growers have budded or grafted the better seedlings on the native black walnut. The public has become enthused through the various displays at local and state fairs and through the state nut show now being held annually. The exhibits have brought out some very desirable seedlings, each listed under the owner's name. Some of the seedling nuts have averaged about two inches in diameter, and 12 year old trees have produced as much as 50 pounds of cured nuts.
The largest Persian walnut tree found in Indiana is at Lafayette, it being 12 inches in diameter and possibly 40 feet high. This tree has been fruiting for the past 15 years. There are probably five or six bushels of nuts on this large tree at the present time. This tree was placed as a yard tree for its ornamental value and for the fruit.
Numerous persons have inquired about the Persian walnut as a specimen tree in their landscaping program and the demand far exceeds the supply. As many of the elms, oaks, and some chestnuts are going out from disease troubles, the Persians may be used as a replacement. The food value of the walnut compares very favorably with that of other native nuts, according to Dr. A. S. Colby, of the University of Illinois.
———————————————————————————————————-% Water % Protein % Fat % Carbo- % Ash No. Calorieshydrate per PoundPersian walnut 2.8 16.7 64.4 14.8 1.3 3305Black walnut 2.5 27.6 56.3 11.7 1.9 3105Hickory nut 3.7 15.4 67.4 11.4 2.1 3495Pecan 3.0 11.0 71.2 13.3 1.5 3633———————————————————————————————————-
Nut Data Important in Classification
Three students enrolled in Horticulture have classified several of the seedlings. Paul Bauer, 1947-48, and Edward Burns and Gilbert Whitsel, 1949-50, have been using such information for their special project work as graduate and undergraduate students. These workers found a difference in the habits and performance of the seedling trees and two such examples follow.
Nut Data Sheet
1. Common Name:Fateley No. 1
2. Scientific Name:Juglans regia
3. Source or Owner:Nolan FateleyCity:FranklinState:Indiana
4. Average Size: inches 1.7x1.8
5. Average Number Per Lb.: 23
6. Average Wt. Each Nut: 15.8gm.
7. ShellTexture:Wrinkled and furrowedCrackability:Very good, thin shellSeparation:Very goodAverage Wt. Per Nut: 7.1gm.
8. KernelColor:Light tanQuality:Very good, blandAverage Wt. Per Nut: 8.7gm.
9. Percent Kernel: 40.5%
10. Remarks:Exceptionally large, well formed kernel, appealing taste.Bore 50 lb.1949. Tree set as 1 year seedling 1939.(Carpathian strain.)
Nut Data Sheet
1. Common Name:Fateley No. 3
2. Scientific Name:Juglans regia
3. Source or Owner:Nolan FateleyCity:FranklinState:Indiana
4. Average Size: inches 1.3x1.54long
5. Average Number Per Lb.: 34
6. Average Wt. Each Nut: 12.3gm.
7. ShellTexture:Smoothly wrinkledCrackability:Very good, paper thin shellSeparation:Very good to bestAverage Wt. Per Nut: 6.9gm.
8. KernelColor:Light tanQuality:Good, desirable tasteAverage Wt. Per Nut: 6.4gm.
9. Percent Kernel: 54.5%
10. Remarks:
Fairly large, well filled, attractive shape and size with a thin shell. This seedling placed first at the Indiana State Fair and the State Nut Show, 1949. Tree medium in size, planted as one year seedling in 1939. This tree bore 24 pounds of cured nuts in 1949 and has been in good production for 7 years. (Carpathian strain.)
The descriptions given of the two Fateley trees are typical of some of the forty seedlings coming from various parts of Indiana, as shown in the following list.
The distribution of the Persian walnut to the public depends on the ability of the nurserymen to propagate and list the available varieties or unnamed seedlings. There is a great demand and a wonderful opportunity for the hardy Persian walnuts all over the Middle West or where apples will produce, not only for the nutritious fruits but for the ornamental value and for something different.
Indiana Counties with Carpathian Walnuts Under Observation and Test
(North to South and West to East on Map)
Northern
Porter (on Lake Michigan)Elkhart (adjoins Michigan)La Grange (adjoins Michigan)KosciuskoWhitleyAllen (adjoins Ohio)Miami (Peru here)Wells
Central
Tippecanoe (Lafayette here)CarrollHowardGrantDelawareHenryWayne (adjoins Ohio)Marion (Indianapolis here)RushJohnson (Franklin here)
Southern
Greene (Linton here)Monroe (Bloomington here)BrownGibson (adjoins Illinois)PikePosey (adjoins Illinois and Kentucky)Vanderburg (Evansville here)WarrickSpencer (Rockport here)Harrison(Last 5 counties are on Ohio river,opposite Kentucky.)
DR. MacDANIELS: Is Mr. I. W. Short of Taunton, Massachusetts here, or does he have his paper here?
MR. McDANIEL: I haven't received it.
There is a paper here, however, "Notes on Nut Growing in New Hampshire," by Matthew Lahti of Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. Wellman.
MR. WELLMAN: This is very short. It is just a report of bad winters inNew Hampshire. Mr. Lahti I knew in Boston. His farm is in Wolfeboro, NewHampshire, about 75 or a hundred miles north of Boston.
Notes on Nut Growing in New Hampshire
MATTHEW LAHTI, Wolfeboro, New Hampshire
I will bring up to date my experience on nut growing in Wolfeboro, N.H., and supplement my reports for the years 1947 and 1948.
We had late frosts this spring, so that there is not a peach on any of my peach trees this year. This may also account for the fact that there are no black walnuts either on the Tasterite, the wood of which has withstood the winters very well, or on the Thomas. The Thomas black walnut which I reported in 1948 as having suffered no winter injury the previous winter, apparently did suffer considerable damage, which became evident later. It has borne no nuts since, and there is a lot of dead wood this year and the leaves are sickly looking. I am afraid that the tree is going to die.
The filberts, Medium Long, Red Lambert, and No. 128 Rush x Barcelona, which started to bear in 1947, have since then borne a few nuts each year, but the crop is not heavy enough to recommend them for planting in our climate. While the wood suffers no winter injury, the catkins for the most part get winter killed and, consequently, there is a very sparse crop. What is needed for northern latitudes is a filbert that will ripen in our fairly short growing season, and whose catkins are immune to winter kill. The Winkler seems to be more hardy than the others, but the nuts do not ripen. This year even the Winkler catkins were killed, although the catkins of a wild hazel growing nearby were not.
I have two Crath Persian walnuts planted in 1938 which are the survivors of perhaps a dozen seedlings. These two trees have shown no injury. One is bearing seven nuts this year for the first time, and the other one, bearing for the second year, has 80 nuts on it at the present time. Last year the squirrels got all the nuts so that I could not evaluate them, but I will take precautions to save some this year.
The Broadview Persian walnut has thirty nuts on it this year, but the wood of the Broadview definitely is not hardy in our climate.
Summing up my experience with the various nut trees as previously reported, I would say that our climate is not suited for commercial nut growing, but for home use named varieties of butternuts and hickories that crack out easily and possibly one or two of the Crath walnuts should give satisfactory results. My chief difficulty with hickories has been the poor union at the graft, resulting in slow starvation and death in a few years. I have only three left out of approximately 25 trees that I have planted.
MR. CORSAN: A professor from the University of New Hampshire wrote to me that they were very much interested in planting a nut arboretum. Does anybody know what result came of it? I sent them some hybrids of the Japanese heartnut (female blossom) crossed with our native butternut (male blossom).
DR. MacDANIELS: I guess they are somewhat interested. They have very little possibility of growing very much except the butternuts, and sometimes hybrid filberts.
MR. WELLMAN: I have a friend who is up a little farther north than that, in Woodsville, and they have been urging him to set out filberts for wildlife food there, and he has shown me some of those that he has started. It's been quite a movement up there. I don't know how wide. He has about a hundred seedlings that are used for propagation by the state.
Is the Farmer Missing Something?
JOHN DAVIDSON, Xenia, Ohio
(Read by title)
The farmer is a specialist; a producer of edible crops. Like any other specialist, his thinking tends to be channeled along the lines of his specialty, to the exclusion of other lines.
For example, the average farmer probably knows little and cares less about teleology, metaphysics, or, let us say, forestry. He is a farmer. He makes his living by raising crops. And yet, a better knowledge and practice of forestry will not only make him a better farmer wherever he is located but, in certain locations, this knowledge and practice is absolutely essential to his continued existence.
In a recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court upholding a decision made by the Supreme Court of the State of Washington, a principle has been approved which may have a profound influence upon our future well-being. It affirmed the constitutionality of a Washington State law which requires the owners of land used for commercial logging to provide for its reforestation.
Such a law is novel indeed. What? May private owners of the earth's resources not use or destroy them as they see fit? The court, in effect, says they have no such right. In the court's own words, the "inviolate compact between the dead, the living, and the unborn requires that we leave to the unborn something more than debts and depleted natural resources. Surely, where natural resources can be utilized,and at the same time perpetuatedfor future generations, what has been called 'constitutional morality' requires that we do so."
The New York Times, in commenting upon this revolutionary but perfectly sane decision, says: "Time is truly running short; the annual cut of saw-timber, with natural losses, is 50% greater than annual growth…. If the individual forestland owner is too lazy, short-sighted, or indifferent to act, the Federal Government will have to enter the picture."
It is a complex picture. The American farm owner is, by every implication, also involved along with the forestland owner. He, too, has a duty to the unborn, but it is an opportunity as well as a duty. It is only because of what J. Russell Smith calls his insane obstinacy, that the average farmer is now operating a one-story agriculture in place of a two-story agriculture. If he were thinking and doing more about his debt to the unborn, he would also be serving himself better.
I am convinced that the farmer is the key man in forest husbandry. And the best way to interest him in tree planting is through his specialty—throughcropproduction. Atwo-storyagriculture! Tree crops along with other crops!
The farmers' education along this line has been very inadequate. We have been very stupid. Can we never learn to begin, as Hitler began—as the Russians are even now beginning—with the nation's children?
Perhaps we are learning a little. It is heartening to know that school and community forests are fast increasing in number, notably in New England. When fully used and well managed, they can work a revolution in the thinking of the young people who are so fortunate as to have some of their schooling out in the open. These future American leaders are learning at first hand through the ways of the woods how to make the work of their hands live far beyond the span of their lives.
Perhaps, as the result of this training early in life, a new interest among the farmers will emerge and some of our sins of omission will be remedied. As a planter of trees for the future, the American farmer, both of yesterday and today, has notoriously, thoughtlessly, and disastrously failed both his children and himself. By all standards, he should be the first-ranking tree planter of the land. As a matter of fact, it is practically impossible to interest the average farmer at all. State experiment stations and forestry departments make some effort to stimulate interest in the planting of trees by furnishing seedling stocks of forest trees at nominal prices and by issuing occasional bulletins. However well intentioned and, within their limits, well done these bulletins may be, the fact remains that in proportion to their numbers, farmers are still not notable planters of trees. Perhaps one reason for this failure is that most of the literature upon the subject seems aimed at lumbermen, and not at farmers. As to the bulletins which are aimed primarily at the farmer, examples of advice on forestry which is given in these rather too specialized and somewhat near-sighted publications are typically of the following kind: "Fence off the woodlot and never pasture it," "Use your best land for field crops; your waste land for trees." "You are interested in nuts? You can not have nuts and timber, too."
It is evident that these rules are prepared by foresters—not farmers. Is it any wonder that the inquiring farmer finds them rather frustrating?
It should be remembered that practices which are valid and helpful in the care of an already existing forest or woodlot where mature growth is periodically harvested and where young sprouts are encouraged for replenishment may be of little use in the management of an entirely new planting of certain kinds of trees where cultivation, at least for a time, is necessary. Deep-rooted trees, for example. Such rules have been of little use to me in my own planting of American black walnuts upon an Ohio farm. Indeed, to have followed them would have been disastrous.
My planting is not large. It is modest enough to be within the power of nearly any farmer. It has been treated as a farmer would treat it, without too much pampering. We now have a few more than three thousand trees planted upon forty acres. Most of them are now fifteen years old. Here are some of the things we have learned in fifteen years from our trees:
1. Trees spaced 80 feet apart in good deep soil have not made as much growth as seedling black walnut trees spaced 8 feet apart in rows 20 feet apart, also in good soil. However, these wider spaced trees are grafted pecans and Persian walnuts.
2. The seedling trees which stand in good soil have made surprisingly good growth. Some better than 8 inches diameter, breast height. One measured tree has grown 7 feet 1/2 inch this year to date—Aug. 20. (No fertilizer used, but cultivated.) Those which stand in shallow, thin soil are dwarfs, worthless. Walnuts have deep taproots. They need deep, rich earth.
3. Trees grown from planted seed make the best timber trees. Upon the other hand, if production of known quality is the primary objective, grafted trees of known varieties must be planted. The seedlingof good parentageis an exciting gamble. It may be, and usually is a commonplace producer of nuts. Upon the other hand, it is more likely than the tree of poor parentage to win a place among the named varieties, set aside for propagation by budding or grafting upon other stocks.
4. Walnut seedlings like human beings tend to show marked inherited trends, erratic and undependable though they may be. Thus, seedlings grown from vigorous and upright treestendto be vigorous and upright. Conversely, trees of poor parentage, either as timber or nut producers, will tend to reproduce the poor characteristics of their parent. This is more markedly true where the parent tree stands isolated from the pollen of other walnut trees of the same species.
5. I have found no real evidence that walnuts of our planting are toxic to other trees standing immediately beside them. To test this, we planted a few apple, peach, and plum trees in the walnut rows. They still stand literally arm in arm. This is, of course, all wrong. No tree should be so crowded. The apple trees monopolize space by excessive lateral growth. The plums send up unwanted shoots from their roots. The peach trees are passing out. Two or three of the apple trees are half dead. Others still live, but I am not very hopeful that, after the walnut trees are more mature, any of the apples will survive. The usual diseases and insects, plus shading by the walnuts seems to account for most if not all of the dead trees to date.
6. Grass growth is excellent right up to the trunks of all of the trees. It has never been necessary for us to lose the use of the land upon which the trees are planted. While the trees were young, of course, no pasturing was permitted. The land between the rows was cultivated. In these strips we raised berries and other crops. Now that the trees are tall enough to be beyond the danger of damage from livestock, we graze the pasture under and between the trees. No damage is evident from trampled earth (the walnuts are deep-rooted) and the hazard of fire is eliminated because there is now no need to mow excessive grass, weeds, or brush.
7. The most precocious seedling walnuts began to bear nuts at about 7 years of age. New bearers are coming in each year. All are still counted as adolescent trees, yet, last fall, picking up the nuts from none but trees marked for their better quality of nuts, we gathered some 40 bushels of nuts in the shell.
8. Today, we can count about 2,000 walnut trees which promise to be of good timber quality 35 years hence. At a reasonable estimate, 1,000 trees will then survive, be 50 years old, be worth $50.00 each, at present prices. Total, $50,000.00. This represents an annual increment in value of $1,000.00 per year for the 20 acres which are closely planted to black walnuts. Can the average farmersavethat much in his lifetime? Can even the exceptional farmer do it on 20 acres? With as little investment of money and work? If so, how?
Any farmer can do as well, or better, without losing a single immediately productive acre. Why doesn't he?
The answer is in the very nature of the farmer's business. As has already been said, he is primarily a producer of food. If trees stand in the way, he chops them down. He has always chopped them down. It has become a habit. If the farmer is to be persuaded to change his ways and turn to planting trees, instead of destroying them, I repeat, the entering wedge into his interest will be, I believe, through dual-purpose trees—trees for food crops, as well as for timber crops. Of these species, the black walnut of eastern America is probably the most outstanding one of all, at least in the mid-section of America. The butternut—"white walnut"—flourishes better in the north. The chestnut is another—a tree almost literally raised from the dead by the efforts of a few miracle workers like Dr. Arthur H. Graves of the Connecticut Experiment Station, who, with others of his kind, has been in the throes of producing a blight-resistant, tall-growing hybrid timber tree out of the bushy Chinese chestnut, a producer of the sweetest of nuts. The pecan, too, is being pushed northward. Great groves of wild pecans have firmly established themselves along the Ohio River. Their timber is fair; not wonderful. The mulberry tree is still another. The American species produces a timber which is remarkably durable under ground. Its fruit is not sufficiently appreciated. It makes an unsurpassed jam or jelly or pie when combined with a tart fruit like the cherry, grape, or currant. And who does not know the precious wood of the wild cherry? Its rosy warmth of color is the pride of the "antique" connoisseur; its fruit beloved by birds and squirrels; its juice, the secret of the cherry cordial. Even that foreigner, the Persian "English" walnut, of Carpathian strains, is pushing north into Canada and the East Coast region. Its wood, too, under the name of "Circassian," is famous for its figured beauty[3].
[3] Some of the "Circassian walnut" is another genus, the wingnut (Pterocarya).—Ed.
One might go on and on with a list of trees and tree crops easily available, mostly native, all of which should be both figuratively and actually right down the farmer's alley.
Perhaps the education which can come through the agency of many school forests will in good time turn the attention of young and impressionable minds to the potential wealth to be found in the trees. Normally, the young, who, of all people, should be forward-looking, are least concerned with the long-term future. They are not given to making plans or building estates for their grandchildren. As a consequence, the planting of trees is traditionally taken over by the aged, or at least by the mature. This is all wrong. The young farmer who plants interesting trees is preparing for some of the most exciting and prideful moments in the years which follow. And he is also building, at low cost, and with little labor, a priceless estate.
How to Lose Money in Manufacturing Filbert Nut Butter
CARL WESCHCKE, St. Paul, Minnesota
Inasmuch as there are so many words of wisdom and advice showing the reader how to make money in different ways, I have started a new line of caption with the hope that it might serve as a warning for those who would stick their necks out, as the term applies to those people who venture beyond safe margins of restraint. Since this is a recital of facts, and since Professor George L. Slate has requested me to report on my experiences, I submit the following for what interest it may hold for the readers.
Most ventures are backed by optimism of some sort or other, coupled with some experience, capital, hopes, and ambition. The project which sparked the entrance into the manufacture of filbert butter was the success that I was having with hybridizing our best native hazels with the best known filberts, such as crossing of the wild American hazel with Barcelona, DuChilly, Italian Red, Purple Aveline, Red Aveline, White Aveline, also filbert strains from J. U. Gellatly of Westbank, B. C., Canada, and strains from J. F. Jones, hybrids, European strains of filberts from the Carpathian mountains, and any right pollen which could be obtained from known filbert parents. Today we have over 2,000 seedling hybrids of which between 500 and 600 have come into bearing. Some of these are really surprising varieties of the combination hazels and filberts, but a complete history of the hybridization work and the results really deserve a separate account to be published some time in the future. I merely mention this because the success of these plants in producing nuts leads me to contemplate the future production of these hybrid nuts, called Hazilberts,[4] on a large scale.
[4] Another coined name, by Mr. Gellatly, is "Filazel."
My problem was to engineer a scheme whereby I could interest farmers in setting out small acreages of these plants and guarantee that there would be a market when the plants produced nuts, which would be in about three years from the time they were planted. Seeing that the filbert producers in the west were struggling for a better market, since conditions were not too favorable for the filbert in its competition with the foreign nuts and the California produced Persian walnut, I decided that nuts in the shell were a little bit old-fashioned. Many of our prominent members of the NNGA have from time to time advised the marketing of nut kernels rather than nuts in their natural containers, and I thought a step in the right direction would be to manufacture a ready-to-eat product from the kernels. And what could be nicer than a butter similar to peanut butter?
So I began scouring the market for a grinding machine that would grind filberts to the consistency of a smooth peanut butter. My first machine was a Hobart peanut grinder. When buying this machine the mistake I made was to let the agent of the manufacturer demonstrate how good it was to grind Spanish peanuts; I should have had it tested on filberts as they are much tougher, even though they do carry more oil. This machine was installed, but it was a complete failure and I decided to buy more expensive machinery, and also put in a cracking plant and buy the nuts by the ton or carload, if necessary, directly from the growers on the Pacific Coast or through their organization, the Northwest Nut Growers. I located a satisfactory machine for the purpose, which required about 7 horse power to run. Since this was during the war and no motors of the right speed and power were available at the time, I set up my own generating plant, using a 25 kilowatt generator driven by a Diesel engine which generated direct current so that I could use direct current motors which I already had among my machinery supplies. Then a separating machine, which required a 10 horse power motor just to operate the fan, which is part of that equipment, was purchased. Also, a nut cracking machine was secured from a West Coast manufacturer. Along with tanks and containers and other necessary equipment, all set up in a little factory building I had available for that purpose, I commenced the manufacture of filbert butter on a commercial scale.
The product was declared by every one to be excellent. We were quite sure of this since we had taken pains to buy up any product that purported to be a nut butter, and had tested those products in many ways to assure ourselves that we had a product superior to anything that we could find on the market at that time. The Owens Illinois Glass Company designed our label and gave us the benefit of their experience with containers. Then we placed our initial order for glass containers and re-shipping cases. Every detail in handling this material was properly taken care of, to insure that if the orders came rolling in we would be able to supply the demand and have our shipments reach the consumer in first class shape.
Then we initiated an advertising campaign, coupled with sampling, and received many fine letters which encouraged us to hire a salesman who sold the product to the stores in the Twin City area so as to have proper distribution. Advertising was done also in two national magazines, so we sat back, hopefully anticipating the big orders that we were soon to receive. The reorders from the local stores came in slowly, too slowly for our set-up. We received suggestions from the store keepers and from other persons that perhaps the product was too high priced, so we made experiments in other towns where we set the price so low that there was no profit. In fact, there would be a loss of money were we to do business on that basis. Yet there was no stimulation of sales due to this reduction in price.
Many good suggestions came in; among these was the suggestion that the product lent itself nicely to an ice cream topping; by mixing it with honey or with syrup we interested our largest manufacturer of ice cream in this locality and he did a lot of experimental selling. He was very cooperative. He also sold it in his branch stores as milk shakes; everybody liked it. No complaints whatsoever except that the manager said it was too expensive to compete with a chocolate flavor on which he made much more money. Finally this whole thing fizzled out and was discontinued.
The next experiment was with candy; as a candy center it was one of the finest tasting confections that had ever been made, but the oil which would ooze through the chocolate coatings prevented the practical use of it. You see, the filbert has about 65% oil, and when it is ground into a fine, creamy butter, this oil will come out and sometimes be an inch or more in depth over the top of the butter in the glass container in which it was marketed. So we investigated several methods by which we could eliminate the oil. We could pour it off and sell the oil separately; we could emulsify the product with the addition of certain emulsifiers, so as to keep the oil mixed with the starch and protein of the filbert nut. We tried many ways; there is only one method that we haven't used and that is to combine solidified or hydrogenized peanut oil with the filbert butter in order to prevent this liquid oil from rising to to the top of the product. The reason we did not do this is quite apparent—we did not want to mix peanuts and filberts, as we considered peanut butter a cheaper and inferior product. We could not hope to compete with peanut butter with the prices already set for peanut butter recognized by the trade.
Among the products that came to our attention, however, was one which had both filbert butter and solidified peanut oil in it. When we tested this product among many of our friends, they declared it tasted too much like peanut butter. It spoiled the delicate, fine flavor of the natural filbert butter (which we were marketing without adding any sort of seasoning, and without roasting the product the way peanuts are roasted before they are ground into butter.)
Now, if any of you readers think that we have left out something important which would have insured the success had we done it that way, we would certainly like to hear from you, or we have some nice machinery that we will sell cheap in case you want to experiment with it yourself. I would be the last one to condemn the future possibility of producing a commercial nut butter, and yet it is strange that the only successful nut butter is not a nut butter at all. Peanut butter is not a nut butter because peanuts are a legume like a pea or bean. To my knowledge, we do not have any nut butters on the market today with the exception of the cashew nut butter, which recently had a distribution in our locality, but which seems now to have run its course much as our products did. We bought the cashew butter and tried to interest everybody to use it, just to see whether it was any different than our product in its popularity. In our meager tests we found that the filbert butter was slightly more popular than the cashew, since the cashew reminded people too much of peanuts again. It was also very expensive. However, there must be a way to make a satisfactory butter out of filberts or hybrid nuts, as they carry the hope of the cheapest nut product, which is fundamentally necessary to manufacture a popular food item.
The method of propagation of the Hazilbert is by layers instead of grafting—layering is a cheaper and more satisfactory method. Also, the nuts are the most satisfactory to crack as they have no inner partitions which would require intricate machinery to extract the kernel. Their keeping quality is excellent; we have tested this out over a number of years, and filbert butter properly processed will easily keep a year without turning rancid or having an unfavorable flavor. The tonnage of nuts that can be produced on an acre of land is unbelievably high. I have measured individual plants and their production, and the area that they covered, and it is safe to say that we can expect to produce a ton of nuts in the shell per acre in favorable locations on good deep soil. Even at 10c per pound for the nuts this is a good return. New methods of gathering the nuts after they fall from the involucre or husk are being discovered and improved by the western growers from time to time, so that the old expensive method of hand-picking is being eliminated. This should make the filbert even cheaper to harvest.
It is not my intention here to discourage the manufacture of filbert butter, but to point out the difficulty that I have had personally to promote the idea in a commercial way. Neither is it my intention to stimulate too much interest in the planting of the new filbert varieties which are still under test. I feel that it is necessary to test a plant for at least a five-year period before it can be singled out as a plant to propagate. We have not yet reached the point where we care to sell these plants, as much better ones might crop up among the untested plants, which number over 1000, and which have never yet had a chance to bear so as to show what they can do. At some future time I expect to write an article on filbert hybrid culture (Hazilberts) for the whole central, north, and northeastern part of the United States, and at that time I believe that tests will have progressed to such a point that recommendations can be made.
DR. MacDANIELS: There was one more paper that the Secretary has that was not scheduled, from Mr. Elton E. Papple, of Ontario. Title, "Filberts, Walnuts, and Chestnuts on the Niagara Peninsula."
Filberts, Walnuts and Chestnuts on the Niagara Peninsula
ELTON E. PAPPLE, Cainsville, Ontario
My brother and I have been interested in growing nut trees for some time, and have had some interesting experiences and some success. A few years ago, Mr. Slate sent us from Geneva some varieties of filberts which he considered quite hardy. We purchased some from Mr. Gellatly in Westbank, British Columbia, some from Mr. Troup, Jordan Station, Ontario (near Vineland); also from J. F. Jones Nursery, then in Lancaster, Pa. Mr. Slate sent us scionwood and we grafted these scions in the spring and layered them shortly afterwards. By the following spring they were rooted well enough to be planted out in the nursery row. This gave us our material to work with, and about the third year we started making crosses between different varieties. The first year we obtained quite a few crosses, and had a good number of these seeds to germinate in the spring after taking from stratified storage and planting them in the nursery row. These trees have now started to come into bearing, and they promise to be better than their parents in some instances.
We made a number of crosses since, but we have been very busy and the young trees of these crosses have just about perished through neglect. In this last lot we had a cross of the filbert on the beak or horn hazel[5], and of a cluster of three, had one to grow, which in turn was promptly eaten off by a rabbit or rodent of some description. The reason for this cross originally, was that, so far as we could see in the last fifteen years the male catkins never winter-kill; whereas filbert trees are subject to this hazard. Some of the filbert varieties have the ability to withstand changeable weather and not lose all of their catkins. Others will winter-kill in the wood as well. We have removed all our Barcelona and Du Chilly trees because they winter-killed almost one hundred percent.
[5] Corylus rostrata.—Ed.
With the experience we have had with filberts, we believe that before they could be commercialized, it would be necessary to have hardy catkins that will withstand changeable weather: not altogether resistance to extreme cold, but to temperatures that vary from warm to freezing in a few hours. A mulch does help where the warm period is for a short duration; but last winter we had a week or more of warm weather in January, with rain and then a cold snap. Even then, some of the catkins on the German varieties and others came through fairly well.
Selection of varieties for machine cracking or eating from the shell should determine varieties one should grow, but hardiness should be the key factor in selecting varieties. The following table shows some of the crosses we made. Most of these seedlings have borne a few nuts to date, but we cannot give anything definite as to whether the catkins are hardier than those of the parents.
Female Male
Italian Red Medium Long" " Red LambertMedium Long " "Cosford " "" VollkugelComet Cosford" VollkugelCraig Red LambertGellatly VollkugelCarey Red LambertFertile de Coutard " "Barcelona VollkugelSeedling (W) Red Lambert" (E) Vollkugel
I would like to make a few remarks on our heartnut and Carpathian walnut trees. Most of the heartnut varieties came from B. C. and we think that Mr. Gellatly has some of the best obtainable anywhere in North America. The Bates heartnut from J. F. Jones Nursery seems to be very hardy here, and quality of nut is very good. We have found—comparing a heartnut rootstock which grows two weeks later in the fall than some of our black walnuts—that the same variety of heartnut will live one hundred percent on black walnut stock and winter-kill severely on the heartnut rootstock. We believe that the root system for the north, either heartnut or black, should be carefully selected for its growth habits before considering its use as material for rootstock in grafting or budding. I might add here that we also found that if the variety of heartnut was not hardy, it did not help any in regard to hardiness to use black walnut at the rootstock. There is a good crop of heartnuts on the trees here this year.
In grafting Carpathian walnuts on black, we found that some varieties graft or take more readily than others. Also some would give a better union. The Broadview winter-kills with us, but it is not hard to graft it almost one hundred percent. We have quite a number of the Carpathians bearing and they seem to be quite hardy, of good size and quality, and bear every year. As the catkins were killed on all but one variety, due to the unseasonable weather experienced last winter, there will be only a light crop. The hardy variety has late blooming male catkins which might account for its catkin hardiness. It is of good size and excellent flavor. Possibilities for commercial planting of these Carpathian varieties in the north appear promising in favored localities.
Our Chinese chestnut trees seem to be hardy and this year have produced a few burs for the first time. We have planted out about sixty young trees this year and they are all growing nicely. The weather has been wet and just the thing to get them started.
Our hickory trees, which we grafted, are growing well and we set some more out last year. When we started grafting hickories, we had one hundred percent failure, but kept at it until we got almost a perfect take. The hickory seems very slow in forming a union. A lot can happen to the graft before it gets started. Filberts graft as easily as apple. Our findings in grafting nut trees are that any amateur can graft apple trees, but nut trees are something different. We have a number of odds and ends besides what has been mentioned.
Being a member of the N.N.G.A. has helped us in growing nut trees, and the information in the Annual Reports should help anyone who has just become interested in growing nut trees. The information is up-to-date and fairly accurate. All one has to do is apply his findings to his own planting.
MR. CORSAN: Doctor, in that same neighborhood is a man who called on me who has a nut aboretum of 40 acres on Grand Island in the Niagara River. That's above Niagara Falls, of course. I thought he'd call again, but I didn't get his name, or at least I have lost it, and what do you think he is growing in the way of nuts? Can anybody guess:
A MEMBER: Coconuts!
A MEMBER: Peanuts!
MR. CORSAN: I am growing coconuts in Florida—but on that one 40-acre tract on Grand Island, New York—he lives in Buffalo—he is growing evergreen nuts from Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra), Korean pine, Philippine pine,Pinus Lambertiana,Pinus Monophylla,Pinus edulisand Digger pine (Jeffreyi). He is growing these evergreen pine nuts, and he says he is making very good success of it.
MR. STERLING SMITH: Chas. F. Flanigen is his name. He's a member.
MR. WEBER: I'd like to ask the members, or those present, whether they have failed to sign the registry of attendance.
DR. MacDANIELS: That ends the formal program this afternoon. It's always been a criticism that things are too crowded. We have an opportunity now for about half an hour to visit, look over exhibits and then later on we will meet at six o'clock at The Stone Chimney.
(Whereupon, at 4:35 p.m., the Monday afternoon session was closed.)
DR. MacDANIELS: Without any question at all, I think, the most important single consideration in determining the planting of nuts is the matter of varieties, and I know that Dr. Crane has some ideas along that line which he wishes to develop, and without any further talk on my part, I will introduce Dr. Harley Crane, United States Department of Agriculture.
(Applause.)
Nut Varieties: A Round Table Discussion
H. L. CRANE, Chairman
DR. CRANE: Mr. President, members of the Northern Nut Growers' Association: I think it is, without a question of doubt, of the greatest importance that we consider this question of varieties. After all, a variety of any plant, in my opinion—which I think can be well supported—is the most important thing that anyone can consider when it comes to planting or developing a nut tree or a fruit tree or anything in the fruit line. We can cultivate and fertilize and spray and do everything that is needed to be done today in a modern fruit or nut orchard farm, but if the variety is not suited to the climate, if it is not a good variety, all our efforts that we make towards developing a good tree and bringing it into fruiting are wasted.
I know that every one of you appreciates old varieties of corn and just what has been done in our new varieties of hybrid corn, how hybrid corn has changed the variety situation. Now it's hybrid this and hybrid that, because hybrid varieties are generally superb.
Now, at this time in our nut work we are a long way yet from growing good hybrid varieties, and I feel that there has been an effort on the part of a lot of people to capitalize on the word "hybrid," because hybrid corn has been such a success; and we figured that by carrying it over into other plants, particularly the nut trees, we would get the same remarkable performance from hybrid nuts that we do from hybrid corn. But that is not the case.
We will come to that some day in the future, maybe—not in our lifetime, but we will have hybrid varieties, because, after all, our great improvements that have come in most of our plants, in corn and in wheat, and in other plants, have come through the mixing of the genes, or the characters that we have differing between species.
In our nuts, now, with the exception of hicans, we are still dealing with pure species, and most, if not quite all, of our hicans are worthless at the present time, largely because of sterility.
A good variety is the most outstanding thing that a horticulturist can get or can have, because of the fact that it does have the character in it which will make good growth. It will set a lot of nuts, it will carry them through to maturity and it fills them, and if a variety doesn't do that, it's not a good variety. Then after we get the nuts filled, cracking quality, eating quality or oil content, and all these things come next.
Now, this brings us next to the very important consideration of how are we going to get a new good variety? Well, we can do that by selecting from seedling nuts, or we can make controlled pollinations, crossing different varieties, or varieties of different species, planting the nuts or growing new trees and then selecting out of them those that have the desirable characters.
But the first thing that we have got to do after we have either selected the nut or made the hybrid and selected the nut is to evaluate the nut as to whether it does have the first character, or proper characters, that we ought to have in the nut. Does the crop ripen evenly? Whether it hulls readily or comes free of the husk is a minor consideration, provided that the nut itself has the desired characteristics. By that I mean, does it have a good, large kernel which is well filled and bright in color, or good flavor free from any objectionable characters? How about its shell, percentage of shell in relation to kernel? Those are some of the things that we have first got to consider.
That's what we can do in holding our contests to find good varieties. Those are the ones submitted by growers and others. They are in competition with nuts from other sources, and then the committee, or someone, goes over and rates them, and places them, just as has been done by Mr. Chase and others in their Carpathian walnut contest for members of the Northern Nut Growers' Association.
Now, at the present time we have no standard method for evaluating the nut. It's the opinion of the judges that do the scoring or rating which determines the placing that the nuts get. Well, now, that's one of the things that we members of the Northern Nut Growers' Association have been working on for a long while, but we still haven't arrived at any definite place.
Well, then, what's the next step that we take up? The next thing we do, some growers find out that a Persian walnut from Mr. Shessler, for example, placed second in the contest this year. They will get some scions from Mr. Shessler, or somebody else, and they will make a few grafts and grow some trees, and then they will make a study of these nuts and find out how well they do and what they are like under their conditions, and that's about as far as it goes.
Well, now, we cannot continue to do that kind of a job, as I see it. If we go back over the reports of the Northern Nut Growers' Association we will find that this matter of varieties is discussed in a very large majority of the papers that have been presented. But those that have taken part in investigations and in advising the public, like those in the Extension Services of the colleges, those teaching in the universities, those doing research, like myself, anybody who has to answer correspondence from would-be nut growers, almost always get the question, "What variety should I plant?" Then they put it up to me or Dr. McKay, or Dr. Colby, and think that you could just name right and left, and they ask, "What varieties shall we plant?" They put you right down on the spot. Here you are, you are supposed to be a real expert, know all things, and they are asking you for advice, and they will take that advice and carry it out.
Now, today it puts a fellow in an awfully hot spot, because as you read the reports of the Northern Nut Growers' Association you find that there is absolutely no unanimity of opinion. Every grower is absolutely certain in his ideas, and they are different from every other grower's.
Well, you can't recommend them all. It's really impossible. Now, this is one of the things that the Northern Nut Growers have been dealing with all of these years. This is the forty-first annual meeting. You'd have thought in 41 years we'd have come up with something, but we haven't yet. Now, I feel that it's about time that we stop and take stock of our situation.
I am not going to do the talking tonight, I am just making a few suggestions and trying to direct the thought a little bit. But one of the nuts that we have done so much with and have said so much about in our reports is the black walnut. It's very interesting to read the reports on varieties of black walnuts and how those who have grown black walnuts differ in their opinion, regardless. Well, I don't know. When I get a letter coming in from most anywhere in the country wanting to know what variety of black walnut to plant, do you know what I tell them?
MR. CALDWELL: Let them find out for themselves.
DR. CRANE: No, sir, they will never find out, not in their lifetime. I tell them to plant Thomas. Thomas, Thomas Thomas! Why?
MR. KINTZEL: Because we know more about that than any other.
DR. CRANE: That is right. I expect there are four or five times as many Thomas walnuts propagated and sold by nurserymen in the United States as all other varieties.
MR. CORSAN: It always has a bigger crop, too.
DR. CRANE: It bears, that's one thing. It may not always fill, but Thomas is a good variety. But we in the Nut Growers' Association haven't the nerve to come out and say the Thomas is a good variety. It has its faults. I know I am going to be wrong in a lot of cases by planting Thomas.
MR. CORSAN: But don't plant it outside the peach belt.
DR. CRANE: Well, the peach belt is an awful lot of territory. I know I am going to be wrong, but I know I am going to be safer with Thomas variety than I would be with some of the others.
Now, I think that it's time, and I think that the biggest thing that the Northern Nut Growers' Association can do is to give very serious thought and take action at this meeting some way looking towards the Association's giving consideration to methods and means whereby we can properly evaluate varieties that we have that are growing so that we can recommend and tell others the varieties that they should grow.
You know, here is the situation exactly. In the territory of the Northern Nut Growers we don't have a commercial industry at the present time. I doubt if there is a single family of the Northern Nut Growers who are here that depend on the sale of nuts for their living. Well, when your living depends on something, you take an awful lot of interest in it. And that has been true in the case of apples, for example. I don't know how many there are, but twenty years ago or more there have been fifteen or sixteen thousand apple varieties that have been described and have been planted and propagated, and you can name all of the commercial apple varieties grown in the United States almost on the fingers of your hands. That is, the important ones. Oh, the list has grown, would probably take in 200, but that 190 hardly make a drop in the bucket as compared to the ten big ones.
Well, the same thing is true with peaches. The Elberta peach just is completely outstanding. It's a big commercial peach. Now, in all of the Association here, almost every paper that is presented always has some commercial aspect mentioned in the paper, but we could never have any commercial industry as long as we are fooling with a lot of these varieties with nobody giving them the serious consideration that they deserve, in an effort to properly evaluate them.
This evaluation of a variety is our problem. I have given an awful lot of thought to it over the years and how to get around it, how to come up with the proper answers within the near future so that we can be of help to others and stop a lot of our amateurs, those who are attracted to the industry, from making mistakes and getting discouraged. That is the problem. And that is the thing that I want all of you to be thinking about tonight and help us with the suggestions.
Now, we could just start almost, I expect, in dogfights, if we were to conduct this round table to get to discussing the different qualities or desirability or other aspects among varieties, and each fellow would be right, because I know there wouldn't be agreement. It would make an interesting round table, but I don't know how constructive it would be. So I have tried in these preliminary remarks to get you to thinking about this problem, of evaluation.
Now, there is one other way that we could go about it. For years we have had in the Northern Nut Growers Association a group of officers that are known under the title of State Vice-Presidents, and I think if you judge by their performance in the past, the main reason that we have had these State Vice-presidents is that we were attempting to confer some honor on somebody, the honor being in having them so designated and their names published as State Vice-presidents in the proceedings. In many cases their performance hasn't warranted that honor, because, after all, a vice-president is supposed to be a working vice-president, not an ornament. The ornament is supposed to be the president, if we have any such thing. At least, that's what I have heard. I have never been president. And I have thought that if in the consideration of our State Vice-presidents we select the ones who are particularly active and very much interested in this variety problem and in the Northern Nut Growers' Association, that we might take up this variety problem and get us information by two ways.
One would be through surveys made in their states by contact with the growers, either personal contacts or by letters. Then those reports could be assembled, and we could have our variety committee over all, so the Association could attempt to evaluate. That would be one start.
Another thing would be that our State Vice-president in collaboration with the President, would appoint a state committee. Now, we have a lot of growers in some states that are vitally interested. In Pennsylvania, for example, and in Ohio and New York we have a lot of growers who are members of this or state associations that are vitally interested in this thing. You have a State Vice-president appointing a committee in collaboration with the president of the National to evaluate the variety situation as it exists in their state.
Now, we would expect them to do some honest work on this thing and come up with a report in which the different members could agree. Then we would be nearer getting unanimity of opinions. We have got to get this some way so that we can agree upon what we do with the answers to individuals better than we have been doing in the past.
There may be some error to this. Well, you see, I know that some of you must be familiar with the New Jersey Peach Testing Association. I am not sure just what the name of it is, but it's something like that.
A MEMBER: New Jersey Peach Council.
DR. CRANE: It has been a great power and a great help in regard to the selection and evaluation of peach varieties in the State of New Jersey. In New Jersey the experiment station has had a peach breeding program going for a number of years. They have done outstanding work, and they have brought out some very good varieties. Well, the station has selected the good ones and discarded the poor ones, or what they thought were the poor ones. They call in members of this Peach Growers' Council, and they have the peaches evaluated. They are passing them on to the fruit growers. "Do you think, in your opinion, that this would be a good peach for us to grow? Is it better? Does it have better flavor than other peach varieties?" They will, out of that group, select some of these new ones, maybe. Then the New Jersey Experiment station will see to it that the trees of these varieties are propagated, and they are given to the members of that Association in order that they can plant them under their conditions and grow them to fruiting and see how they do.
Well, then, this committee still continues to evaluate them, and if the members of the Association say, "Well, that's a variety we should grow," then they will grow it. If they feel it isn't as good as some they already have, they throw it away and that's the end of it. But they don't clutter up the variety situation with a lot of poor stuff. And they make profits, because always two heads are better than one, even though one is a sheep's head, as the old saying goes. Well, when you get four or five or more in a group and they agree, you can be sure that their opinion is far better than five individual opinions or judgments.
I am very anxious to see that tonight we agree in open discussion of this whole variety evaluation problem and that we start work some way, somehow, towards working out some means whereby we can properly and more effectively and more quickly evaluate our varieties than we have up to this time. Now, that's the end of my story. The talk and the rest of it is up to you folks.
Mr. Anthony and Mr. Sherman have been working over here in Pennsylvania. They have found a lot of new material known only to a few people. They are just wringing their hands over there to know how in this wide world this stuff can be evaluated, the good saved, and that which is not worthy of doing anything with, well, "just pass it up" and let it go. That's the way we make profits.
Their experience is no different from all the rest. We have nut growers with whom I have had correspondence in years past who want to propagate material that this Association should have flatly condemned years ago, because the majority of the group here knows it is worthless, but they just haven't done it. Now, it's time that we change this thing, or I will tell you frankly in a lot of ways the Nut Growers' Association has become a social institution, rather than one which we learn from and recommend practices to the new groups that are coming on to keep them from making mistakes.
Now, I have talked from the bottom of my heart tonight, and I want some of the rest of you here to express your opinions and give suggestions as to how we might do that.
MR. WEBER: Dr. Crane, I think I will start the ball rolling, and I think Ohio has taken the lead in the very thing you have been talking about. It's the Northern Ohio group. They have been very active in finding out the better nut varieties that were suitable to Ohio conditions, both the black walnuts and the hickories. They have conducted contests, both for black walnut and hickories. They practice what they preach. They have traded their information. They are up in the northern part, and I am down in the southern part, too far to be included with them, so I am not blowing my own horn; I am blowing it for the other fellows. And I think they are a worthwhile group, and if you look to the membership in this Association in Ohio, I think it has the largest membership. And you get that Northern Ohio group, they test out varieties, and a man will fight for a particular one in his group against the variety from another. And so they are not afraid to stand up and say what they think.