Northern Nut Growers Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty First Annual Meeting

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I believe that puts me through the list of hickories of which I have
made a list. I have a number of others under observation that may in the
future be of importance.

I have several black walnuts that have made their appearance since our
contest was completed. We now have one called the Finney. This stands in
Marshall County right beside the Northwestern Railroad track. I sent
this to Professor Drake of Arkansas for testing and he reported it was a
little better than Thomas, so I think we have a variety there that is
worth taking care of. I received the sample of nuts through a friend, I
believe it was three years ago. I didn't see anything particularly
attractive in the outside appearance of the nuts, so threw them aside
and didn't test them until some months later. I passed it up at that
time as not being better than the Thomas, anyway, and some months later
I cracked another one of them. I went on that way for the last year
until this last fall. I had quite a quantity of them and every time I
came across them I would sample them. Finally I sent some of them to
Professor Drake, with the results that I have mentioned. So now I have
concluded that it is a very worthwhile variety and I have begun
propagating them.

DR. DRAKE: Did you call it by another name before?

MR. SNYDER: Well, I believe I called it Brenton.

DR. DRAKE: That is the name I remember.

MR. SNYDER: From the extreme north line of our state, a place
called Cresco, I received samples of a walnut. This I considered on its
first appearance as being a worthwhile variety and I took it up with the
party who sent it to me and we agreed to call it Cresco. It is a very
thin-shelled walnut, above medium size, excellent eating quality, and
coming from so far north, and ripening and being of such excellent
quality, I thought it was worth looking after and we began propagating
it under that name.

We have another one that made its appearance in the Cedar Rapids
exposition, that has been named Safely. This is of the Ohio type of
walnut and I believe will prove to be just as good, possibly better. The
first samples received of this were ripened under unfavorable conditions
and were not fully up to their best. I think this will be worth looking
after, although I have not yet made an effort to propagate it or get
scions. It is owned by a cousin of mine so I could get them.

The best thing I have found in the state of Iowa I have authority to
call Burrows. This is the finest cracking black walnut I have ever
found. Just a crack of the hammer--four quarters. You don't have to pick
them out. It stands near the county line of Marshall County, near a
little town called Gillman.

THE PRESIDENT: Have you specimens of all of these?

MR. SNYDER: Yes, specimens on the tables. I believe this puts
me through the list of nuts as far as anything new is concerned. I am
quite an enthusiast about the black walnut. There is a double purpose in
the black walnut here in Iowa because our saw mill men tell me, and we
have the largest manufacturing walnut mills here in Iowa, they tell me
the Iowa grown walnut is the most valuable black walnut and they will
pay the best price for it. This alone makes it valuable to plant black
walnuts here in Iowa. Another thing, they are easily and quickly grown.
Our millers tell us that anyone who cuts down a walnut tree ought to be
compelled to plant two. If we all followed this rule the supply would
never be exhausted. We know the demand will not be.

MR. HERSHEY: Couldn't we pass a law here, as they have in
Germany, that every man has to plant thirty trees before he can get
married?

THE PRESIDENT: Have you found a first class butternut?

MR. SNYDER: None, except those that have been listed for a
couple of years. The Buckley is the best in the state. Sherwood is next.
Those two are the best.

THE PRESIDENT: In Michigan we are interested in getting a good
butternut.

MR. SNYDER: By the way, we have on the table a hybrid. This
hybrid is a cross between the sieboldiana and the American butternut. We
call it the Helmick hybrid. We have propagated it for our own use at
home. We have it under restrictions. I have six seedlings that I have
produced from seed of this Helmick hybrid that are crossed with the
Stabler black walnut. In these seedlings are wrapped up three distinct
species, the Stabler (Juglans nigra), Japanese heartnut (Juglans
sieboldiana cordiformis) and the American butternut (Juglans cinerea). I
know this is the result because when the Helmick hybrid bloomed its
cluster containing eighteen nutlets would have perished for want of
pollen to fertilize them because it had produced no staminate blossoms
of its own. There being nothing on the place with ripe catkins shedding
pollen, I was watching them very closely for fear there would nothing
else bloom in time to fertilize the nutlets, and the first thing to
offer ripe pollen that could be used was the Stabler walnut, from which
I gathered a handful of catkins and carried to the Helmick hybrid and
dusted pollen over the cluster of nutlets and succeeded in saving six
out of the cluster of eighteen. These matured into full grown nuts which
were saved and each of them grew into a nice young seedling. I know
beyond question that these seedlings represent the three distinct
species mentioned because there was nothing furnishing pollen with which
to fertilize them except the Stabler walnut.

THE PRESIDENT: The work that Mr. Snyder and Dr. Drake and Dr.
Deming are doing in locating good varieties of nuts is certainly very
valuable. If we had the whole country hunting for good nut trees we
could tell what the country is producing. We have a great many valuable
varieties throughout the United States and Canada.

Our next speaker is Professor T. J. Maney of the Iowa Agricultural
College at Ames. I am very much pleased that the experiment stations in
some of the states are actively interested in the propagating of nut
trees. New York, Iowa and Ohio are doing work along this line and no
doubt other experiment stations are interested. In quite a number of
them there is a great lack of interest, and perhaps I should say of
knowledge, about nut culture in general.

PROF. MANEY: During the past six or seven years, during our
regular annual short course, we have been having a week for a nut short
course and we have been very fortunate in having Mr. Harrington and Mr.
Snyder there. That work has already resulted in the establishment of a
nut project that will continue to grow during the coming year.

You recall that Mr. Neilson revived the subject of paraffin. I notice
that he always wound up with a plea that someone invent an apparatus to
apply the paraffin. What I have here is an answer to the plea. This
apparatus consists of a two and one-half inch pipe with a spray nozzle
attached. The idea is to put into the tube hot paraffin and apply
pressure here, and then with a plumber's blowtorch keep the paraffin
heated. The handle is covered with asbestos. I didn't spend much time in
working this up but I think it works fairly well. There is one
difficulty in perfecting your apparatus to apply hot paraffin, and that
is the fact that when it comes out it immediately congeals into a sort
of snow. You just can't atomize hot paraffin. The only way is through
air pressure. I used this on some dahlia roots quite successfully. This
did the work very well in that case and I think for applying it to rose
roots and plants of that kind it may work quite successfully. Another
thing I thought might be of interest to you is some work in grafting by
the use of paraffin. Last year I was interested in grafting some apples.
On July 12th I made some regular cleft grafts, using the green wood as
the scion after removing the leaves.

DR. SMITH: Wood of that year or previous?

PROF. MANEY: That year. The entire graft was covered with
paraffin. This picture was taken on September 5th, a period of 55 days
later, and during that time growth was 25 inches. I am sure it can be
worked very successfully with different fruit trees. It is especially
valuable in replacing dead grafts. These grafts went through the very
severe winter very successfully. I am sure I appreciate this opportunity
to appear on the program, and I hope to continue with the work at Ames
and perhaps appear at future dates.

MR. WEBER: May I ask how hot it got that summer?

PROF. MANEY: Oh, the temperature was up to 100, 103 and 104.

MR. WEBER: What kind of paraffin did you use?

PROF. MANEY: Just ordinary paraffin.

MR. WEBER: Did you notice any bad results?

PROF. MANEY: No, apparently no ill effects.

MR. WEBER: Paraffin has a tendency when it gets extremely hot
to run down and kill the graft.

DR. SMITH: What would be the effect of putting in some beeswax?

PROF. MANEY: I think that would be all right.

MR. WEBER: Paraffin this summer killed two nut grafts for me.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Are you sure it was the paraffin? I have finally
come to the conclusion that when the sun gets hot enough to melt the wax
it will kill the graft anyway.

MR. WEBER: I noticed the heat did not kill another one that I
did not use the paraffin on. Previous years it simply scorched the tree.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: The heavy coating of wax protects a little from
the heat, I thought.

MR. HARRINGTON: In very hot weather I put heavy paper around
the graft and a handful of dirt. That protects it from the sun.

MR. WEBER: I have tried that.

THE PRESIDENT: I am very much interested in seeing Professor
Maney's spraying apparatus. We also tried to spray and got something
like snow. We also found that the wax congealed in the nozzle. Last
spring I almost blew my head off. I am now experimenting with a material
which acts as an emulsifying agent on waxes and resin. I have developed
a formula, paraffin 5 pounds and Pick Up Gum one pound. I dissolve the
emulsifying agent and heat the wax. This solution can be sprayed on
trees without difficulty when it is warm. When it gets cool, however, we
have to heat it again. I hope to have some definite reports to make as
to the feasibility of this later on, and possibly on conifers as well.
We have been up a tree when it came to spraying wax and we have been at
a disadvantage in transplanting conifers. Regarding the comments as to
paraffin wax melting, I do have a little difficulty on the south side
and sloping to the northeast. The sun's rays would be rather direct. I
think the suggestion Mr. Weber made was very good. Two-thirds paraffin
and one-third beeswax. Possibly we would have to increase the beeswax
where trees are growing on a southern slope.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: I found the hottest place 2 inches above the
soil. I shade grafts with a piece of shingle.

THE PRESIDENT: The principle in grafting trees is to regulate
the moisture and the temperature factors. As a means of regulating the
moisture I use German peat around the graft.

MR. HERSHEY: Have any of you had experience in grafting on the
north side of the stock? I found that quite a good scheme, so that the
heat doesn't kill the grafts. We grafted on the 15th of June this year.

THE PRESIDENT: Professor Drake has done a good deal of work in
locating good varieties of black walnuts in the southwest and I am sure
he will be glad to tell you what he has found. Let me repeat what I said
about Mr. Snyder's work, that the most valuable work that is being done
is the discovering of new varieties of nuts.

PROF. DRAKE: I shall talk about the methods I use in scoring
the black walnut in Arkansas. Color of kernel. The way I have determined
that is to first make a measuring scale. Get walnuts whose kernels show
different color. The lightest I call number one. It is quite easy to
divide them into five different groups. I feel that this grading can be
pretty well done, except possibly for the flavor, all the way through.
Applying this method to different nuts, here is the result that I have
obtained with the best ones:

I find the Stabler to rank first, with total grade points of 71.66. For
making the test with the Stabler I have had Stabler nuts from a number
of different places, Snyder, Reed, University of Missouri and nuts I
have grown myself.

The next two will be a surprise to you and I feel quite sure that after
further tests they may grade differently. The next highest is the Ogden.
I believe it was found in Kentucky in 1926 or 1927. Score of 70.90. The
Ogden nuts that I tested were thoroughly dry and gave an excellent
cracking quality, and I expect the test would go down a little bit had
they not been dried so long. I am sure, however, the Ogden is an
excellent cracker. I don't know just how the flavor of the Ogden will
be. I have some feeling that the flavor will not be as good as some.

The third is the Adams. This one comes from West Park in the northern
part of Iowa. It is one that runs very high in kernel per cent. This
gives a total score of 70.87.

While I think of it, there is one point about the method that I use for
scoring that is better, I think, than some other methods that have been
used, that it gives credit for even a part of a per cent. You will
notice that I run these out to the third point.

I can't say about the Adams color. That nut also had been thoroughly
dried and I think the cracking quality shows better than it ordinarily
would. I think that is a variety that we should keep in mind and
especially that it should be used for crossing because of high
percentage of kernel.

The fourth comes from Arkansas, that I have called the "Walker." Scored
70. I suppose we can't claim it entirely from Arkansas, although it was
planted there about 50 years ago. The owner moved there from Illinois.
There are five or six trees, two of them with excellent nuts. The
chances are that the score of this would be lowered somewhat if it were
more thoroughly tested. Last year when I tested I only got four. He told
me that was almost the most complete failure he had ever known for that
tree. Of those four only two were good. One of them I tested before it
was thoroughly dry and I felt that I couldn't test it properly. The
other nut I tested was larger. It weighed about 36 grams. I am sure that
size will be cut down when we can get the nuts from a normal crop. This
year the tree has a good crop and it can be tested more thoroughly.

The next on the list is the Burrows. I think I only had two nuts for
testing this variety. So this score may be somewhat altered. I always
try to test at least ten nuts, and another year if I can get a sample I
will test them again. The score was 69.79.

Following that is another one of Mr. Snyder's, the Finney, from Iowa.
That scored 68.82. After that comes our old standard variety, the Ohio,
68.30. Thomas 67.93. Following the Thomas is a variety, the Bohanan,
with a score of 66.89. After that the Asbury, 66.65; and the Iowa
variety from Iowa that John Rohwer sent me, 66.36. The Iowa is a little
bit better cracker than the Rohwer. Not quite as high percentage of
kernel. Slightly larger nut I believe. The Iowa nut is a little rougher
on the outside than the Rohwer. Following the Iowa is the Edgewood from
Arkansas. This is another of those trees, the parent tree coming from
Illinois, score 66. Ten Eyck, score 65.75. Knapke, score 63.73. Very
good producer. Following that is the Arkansas variety from my home with
a score of 63.11. The next variety comes from British Columbia, the
Attick, 62.02. As I have said, of some of these I have not had
sufficient nuts, and some of them are more thoroughly dry than others. I
am sure there will be some shifting in place. However, for the better
walnuts that I have and the ones I have plenty to test with I feel that
there will be little change from where I have placed them. I have made
another grouping. For large size the Walker scores the highest with
36.20 points. Now as to cracking quality, the Throp 100%, Ogden 94.43%.

MEMBER: What did you crack them with?

PROF. DRAKE: With a hammer.

DR. COLBY: Do you use any fertilizer in your orchard?

PROF. DRAKE: I have some. At first I didn't but afterwards I
used some barn yard manure and some nitrate. Of late years I put some
bone meal around the roots when I plant them.

THE PRESIDENT: Any further discussion of this interesting
paper?

DR. DEMING: Do you use the hammer in cracking entirely?

PROF. DRAKE: Yes, sir.

DR. DEMING: Why do you not use the mechanical cracker? Do you
not think the commercial value of the black walnut is best tested by
using a mechanical cracker? It will never be cracked with a hammer.

PROF. DRAKE: That point is well taken. In the first place I
didn't have a commercial cracker but plenty of hammers. Another thing,
the commercial crackers are being developed. Unless we all try them out
in the same way there would be no value in it. I thought it would be
more accurate to use a hammer.

THE PRESIDENT: Professor A. F. Yeager is unable to be with us.
Therefore, Dr. Colby will read his paper.

NUTS IN NORTH DAKOTA

_By Prof. A. F. Yeager_

The growing of nuts in North Dakota has hardly been considered as a
possibility even by the average amateur up to the present time.
Nevertheless, evidence is gradually accumulating that some varieties of
nuts can be grown as an addition to the home orchard in nearly all parts
of the state.

We have no native nut plants except the hazel and our native hazel
seldom produces nuts in any quantity in the wild state, hence the
possibility of growing them for profit undoubtedly lies some distance in
the future.

Nut bearing plants which have been introduced with success are the
butternut and the black walnut. Trees of these two species are to be
found in small numbers at various points in the state and have in
practically every case been grown from nuts planted where the trees are
now standing. In the past many failures have been reported with trees
grown from nuts sent up from the South. Such trees as are now standing
are the hardy remnants of considerable numbers of seedlings started,
most of which have fallen by the wayside because of the rigors of our
climate. Black walnut trees raised from seed produced on trees which
have reached fruiting age in North Dakota seem to possess the necessary
hardiness. As to whether the named varieties of walnuts would be a
success in this territory remains a question. Their culture has not been
attempted.

Butternuts are naturally a more northerly species than black walnuts but
have not been so widely planted in North Dakota. Nevertheless there is a
sprinkling of bearing butternut trees in some of the pioneer groves.
Seed from these was planted at the experiment station in the fall of
1920. The seedlings prospered and some of them bore nuts in 1925, one
tree producing 114 nuts that year. Since then there has been a crop each
year and the trees have been making a growth of a foot or more per
year. This would seem to indicate that the butternut has possibilities,
at least as a producer of nuts for home consumption.

Both the black walnut and butternut are subject to damage by late spring
frosts which kill off the opening blossoms. While it is not likely that
North Dakota will be a commercial nut growing state, we can look forward
with confidence to the time when a group of nut trees will be included
in the grove which will surround each North Dakota home.

* * * * *

THE PRESIDENT: Butternuts and walnuts grow in Manitoba. I know
of 47 trees.

MEMBER: Mr. Gall reports that heartnuts have endured the winter
in northwestern Manitoba. The black walnut has grown quite well in Swift
Current. That part of Canada is much colder.

THE PRESIDENT: Our next paper is a report on the nut contest.
Mr. Bixby had planned to be here, but was unable to come. Has Dr. Deming
anything to offer?

DR. DEMING: I have no very definite report to make on the nut
contest, because it wasn't finished until about two weeks ago and I
haven't had time to work on the results. The important part of the
report is the result of Mr. Bixby's scientific calculations on the
properties of the nuts, and this will be published in the report. The
contest this year cannot rank in extent and value with the contest of
1926. One reason for that is that the nut crop last fall seems to have
been everywhere very deficient, and in fact many contestants sent in
nuts from the year before. The second reason is that we didn't get good
advertising. I don't know exactly why we didn't. At first I didn't think
we were going to get any nuts at all. But belated notices in the Fruit
Grower, and especially in the Farm Journal, finally waked up a lot of
contestants. Possibly a third reason why the contest was not as
successful as in 1926 was that there were so many kinds of nuts for
which prizes were offered. I think that is rather confusing. I think we
had better do as in 1926 and offer a prize for a single nut each year,
rather than prizes for all the nuts each year. Take one nut one year
and another nut the next year, and so on, and then begin over again. At
the same time I think we ought to have a standing prize for nuts of each
species, that is for any better than those we already have. We have such
a prize for the hickory, the Bowditch. At different times other members
have offered prizes for other species. I would be glad to offer another
standing prize of $25 for some other nut in addition to Mr. Bowditch's
for the hickory. Three hundred eighty-eight people sent in nuts. That
was many fewer than in 1926. 138 people wrote letters but never sent any
nuts. There were 243 different black walnut specimens this year and 1229
in 1926. We had some very valuable black walnuts. Some fully equal to,
if not better than, those we already have. Very few came from the South.
More came from the northern states. Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan
were well represented. We got 94 different specimens of butternuts. Some
of these were very good. Most of them were from the North, Vermont and
Wisconsin leading. We got 134 specimens of shagbark hickory, 40
shellbarks and 10 others, perhaps hybrids or other species. There was
one California black walnut and only 4 beechnuts, very small indeed. Not
worthy of propagation at all. There were a few odd nuts. Only 40
chestnuts were sent. I think that was because we did not get our
publicity out soon enough. The chestnut crop matures earlier and in many
instances the crops were out of the way. Of these chestnuts, 20 were
Japanese. When you first tasted them they tasted like potato but later
developed a large amount of sweetness. There were 20 American chestnuts.
Dr. Zimmerman would call them small because his standards for the
American chestnut are larger than my New England ideas. When the
chestnuts first came in they were quite green. In a few days they
hardened. If I dried them a little and then put them in boxes they began
to mold and soon would be a mass of mold. It always seemed to begin at
the butt end and would gradually spread over the whole nut and then get
inside and spoil it. I washed some in boric acid, others in
formaldehyde, and that hardened them. Then I tried packing them in
pulverized sugar and in salt. That extracted all the water so that in a
few hours you could pour out half a glass of water. I packed them in
peat moss and sand and treated them in various ways, and finally packed
them in fresh hardwood sawdust. In this they kept in good condition.

DR. SMITH: Did you try sphagnum moss?

DR. DEMING: No. Another writer says an excellent thing is
ground limestone.

THE PRESIDENT: Did you get any Japanese walnuts?

DR. DEMING: We got only three, of no merit.

MEMBER: The value of the nut tree is going to be determined by
its vigor and its bearing qualities. If it doesn't produce any nuts it
isn't going to be any good. Mr. Bixby and Dr. Deming have allowed
nothing for the bearing qualities.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: I am wondering whether it might be possible in
some way to get these different factors together and judge the nuts from
all angles.

DR. DEMING: That, I think, is absolutely necessary. That is, to
combine these two scales of judging, the tree characteristics and those
of the nuts. Ultimately we have got to allow a large factor for
adaptation and productiveness.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: A nut may crack well at one time and not so well
later on. The moisture of the nuts is a factor.

DR. DEMING: I don't agree with Dr. Smith that we should not use
the mechanical cracker.

DR. SMITH: We also want the hammer. We must crack them in the
most favorable way.

DR. DEMING: I think the hammer is of very little value. I think
we should crack them all with a mechanical cracker. If you crack with a
mechanical cracker, the two plungers come together by compression, which
crushes the ends in and makes the sides burst out, thereby releasing the
kernel.

MR. HERSHEY: With the mechanical cracker the shells burst away
from the kernel.

MR. FREY: My experience is that the mechanical cracker
outclasses the hammer. The walls of the nut shatter outwards and save
the kernel, whereas with a hammer you mash the nut. I can't see the
value of the contest in 1929 when the scion wood for those nuts can't be
secured until 1931. There is too much delay. I think if we would
establish a permanent award for a better nut of any variety that is sent
in we will make better progress. One nut that I know was put in the
contest last year. The tree was cut down before they could even write
for the scion wood.

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