Walnut Growing in Oregon
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Various >> Walnut Growing in Oregon
[Illustration: WALNUT BLOSSOMS]
WALNUT GROWING
IN
OREGON
Edited by J. C. Cooper
PUBLISHED BY THE
Passenger Department Oregon Railroad and Navigation Co.
Southern Pacific Company Lines in Oregon
Portland, Oregon
COPYRIGHT, 1910. BY WM. McMURRAY. GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT
[Illustration: An Oregon Walnut Grove. Prune Trees for Fillers.]
[Illustration: _Walnut Confections_]
WALNUT GROWING IN OREGON
A COMING INDUSTRY OF GREAT NATIONAL IMPORTANCE
English walnuts for dessert, walnut confectionery, walnut cake, walnuts
in candy bags at Christmas time--thus far has the average person been
introduced to this, one of the greatest foods of the earth. But if the
food specialists are heard, if the increasing consumption of nuts as
recorded by the Government Bureau of Imports is consulted--in short, if
one opens his eyes to the tremendous place the walnut is beginning to
take among food products the world over, he will realize that the
walnut's rank as a table luxury is giving way to that of a necessity; he
will acknowledge that the time is rapidly approaching when nuts will be
regarded as we now regard beefsteak or wheat products. The demand is
already so great that purveyors are beginning to ask, where are the
walnuts of the future to come from?
In 1902. according to the Department of Commerce and Labor, we imported
from Europe 11,927,432 pounds of English walnuts; each year since then
these figures have increased, until in 1906 they reached 24,917,023
pounds, valued at $2,193,653. In 1907 we imported 32,590,000 pounds of
walnuts and 12,000,000 more were produced in the United States. In
Oregon alone there are consumed $400,000 worth of nuts annually.
When we consider the limited area suitable to walnut culture in
America--California and Oregon practically being the only territory of
commercial importance--and the fact that the Old World is no longer
planting additional groves to any appreciable extent, there being no
more lands available, we begin to realize the important place Oregon is
destined to take in the future of the walnut industry: for in Oregon,
throughout a strip of the richest land known to man--the great
Willamette basin with its tributary valleys and hills, an area of 60 by
150 miles--walnuts thrive and yield abundantly, and at a younger age
than in any other locality, not excepting their original home, Persia.
In addition, Oregon walnuts are larger, finer flavored, and more uniform
in size than those grown elsewhere; they are also free from oiliness and
have a full meat that fills the shell well. These advantages are
recognized in the most indisputable manner, dealers paying from two to
three cents a pound more for Oregon walnuts than for those from other
groves. Thus the very last and highest test--what will they bring in the
market?--has placed the Oregon walnut at the top.
However, in all of Oregon, throughout the vast domain that seems to have
been providentially created to furnish the world with its choicest nut
fruit, there are, perhaps, not more than 200 acres in bearing at the
present time. The test has been accomplished by individual trees found
here and there all the way from Washington and Multnomah counties on the
north, to Josephine and Jackson counties, bordering California. In a
number of counties but two or three handsome old monarchs that have
yielded heavy crops year after year, without a failure for the past
twenty to forty years, bear witness to the soil's suitability; in other
counties, notably Yamhill, sturdy yielding groves attest the soil's
fitness. In none of the counties of the walnut belt has but the smallest
fraction of available walnut lands been appropriated for this great
industry. People are just beginning to realize Oregon's value as a
walnut center and her destiny as the source of supply for the choicest
markets of the future.
Were it practical to plant every unoccupied suitable acre in Oregon this
year to walnuts, in eight or ten years the crop would establish Oregon
forever as the sovereign walnut center of the world; and the crop,
doubling each year thereafter for five years, as is its nature, and
then maintaining a steady increase up to the twentieth year, would
become a power in the world's markets, equal if not superior to that of
North American wheat at the present time.
[Illustration: _More Nuts than Leaves. Tree of D. H. Turner._]
[Illustration: _Garden Stuff, Melons Pumpkins, Prunes and Children
growing among the Walnuts. The Walnuts will in a Few Years put out all
but the Children_]
The United States Year Book for 1908 estimates the food value of the
walnut at nearly double that of wheat, and three times that of
beefsteak.
Colonel Henry Dosch, the Oregon pioneer of walnut growing, says: "As a
business proposition I know of no better in agricultural or
horticultural pursuits."
Prof. C. I. Lewis, of the Oregon Experiment Station, writes: "In
establishing walnut groves we are laying the foundation for prosperity
for a great many generations."
Mr. H. M. Williamson, secretary of the Oregon Board of Horticulture,
writes: "The man who plants a walnut grove in the right place and gives
it proper care is making provision not only for his own future welfare,
but for that of his children and his children's children."
Felix Gillett, the veteran horticulturist of Nevada City, California,
wrote shortly before his death: "Oregon is singularly adapted to raising
walnuts."
Thomas Prince, owner of the largest bearing walnut grove in Oregon,
expresses the most enthusiastic satisfaction with the income from his
investment, and is planting additional groves on his 800-acre farm in
Yamhill county, in many cases uprooting fruit trees to do so.
HISTORY IN BRIEF
The so-called "English" walnut originated in Persia, where it throve for
many centuries before it was carried to Europe--to England, Germany,
France, Spain and Italy--different varieties adapting themselves to each
country. The name "walnut" is of German origin, meaning "foreign nut."
The Greeks called it "the Royal nut," and the Romans, "Jupiter's Acorn,"
and "Jove's Nut," the gods having been supposed to subsist on it.
The great age and size to which the walnut tree will attain has been
demonstrated in these European countries: one tree in Norfolk, England,
100 years old, 90 feet high, and with a spread of 120 feet, yields
54,000 nuts a season; another tree, 300 years old, 55 feet high, and
having a spread of 125 feet, yields 1,500 pounds each season. In Crimea
there is a notable walnut tree 1,000 years old that yields in the
neighborhood of 100,000 nuts annually. It is the property of five Tartar
families, who subsist largely on its fruit.
In European countries walnuts come into bearing from the sixteenth to
the twenty-fourth year; in Oregon, from the eighth to the tenth year;
grafted trees, sixth year.
The first walnut trees were introduced into America a century ago by
Spanish friars, who planted them in Southern California. It was not
until comparatively recent years that the hardier varieties from France,
adapted to commercial use, were planted in California and later in
Oregon. They were also tried in other localities, but without success.
Since the prolific productiveness of the English walnut on the Pacific
Coast has been assured, many commercial groves have been set out.
TEST TREES OF OREGON
The first walnut trees were planted in Oregon in limited number for
purely home use, "just to see if they would grow," and they did. Thus
the state can boast of single trees close to sixty years of age, each
with admirable records of unfailing crops, demonstrating what a fortune
would now be in the grasp of their owners had they planted commercially.
In Portland, Oregon, on what is known as the old Dekum place, 13th and
Morrison streets, there are two walnut trees, planted in 1869, that have
yielded a heavy crop every fall since their eighth year, not a single
failure having been experienced. The ground has never been cultivated.
The nuts planted were taken at random from a barrel in a grocery store.
During the "silver thaw" of 1907, the most severe cold spell in the
history of Oregon, one of the trees was wrenched in two, but the
dismembered limb, hanging by a shred, bore a full crop of walnuts the
following season.
N. A. King, at 175 Twenty-first street, has some fine, old trees that
have not missed bearing a good crop since their eighth year.
Henry Hewitt, living at Mt. Zion, Portland, an elevation of 1,000 feet,
has many handsome trees, one, a grafted tree fifteen years old, that has
borne since its fifth year. Another tree of his buds out the fourth of
July and yields a full crop as early as any of the other varieties.
In Salem, there is what is known as the famous old Shannon tree, fully
thirty years old, with a record of a heavy crop every season.
Mayor Britt, of Jacksonville, has a magnificent tree that has not failed
in twenty years.
Dr. Finck, of Dallas, has a large tree seventeen years old that bore 70
pounds of nuts in its thirteenth year, and has increased ever since.
C. H. Samson, of Grants Pass, has a grove of 250 trees, now ten years
old, that bore at seven years.
Mr. Tiffany, of Salem, has a fifteen-year-old tree that at thirteen
years bore 115 pounds.
Mr. E. Terpening, of Eugene, has four acres of walnuts grafted on the
American black, which in 1905 produced 700 pounds, in 1906 produced 1200
pounds, in 1907 produced 2000 pounds, and in 1908 produced 3000 pounds.
He tried seedlings first, but they were not satisfactory. The Epps and
Reece orchard near Eugene produces about 100 pounds per tree, at 12
years of age.
Mr. Muecke, of Aurora, planted a dozen walnuts from his father's estate
in Germany; they made a splendid growth, and at six years bore from 500
to 800 nuts to a tree.
Mr. Stober, of Carson Heights, planted nuts from Germany with
satisfactory results.
Mrs. Herman Ankeny, of New Era, has seven young trees that in 1907
netted her $15 a tree.
[Illustration: Here is a Santa Barbara soft-shell on the lawn of Mr. E.
C. Apperson, in McMinnville, which at the age of eight years bore 32
pounds of walnuts. It stood the frosts and winter of 1908-'09 and bears
every year; it is now 11 years old, 12 inches in diameter and has a
branch spread of 40 feet.]
[Illustration: _The "Cozine" Walnut Tree_]
Cozine tree on A street, McMinnville. Seedling, 15 years old; bears good
crop of nuts every year. At 14 years old the crop was 125 pounds. Is 16
inches in diameter and has a spread of 42 feet.
One sixteen-year-old tree near Albany netted its owner $30.
A Franquette walnut near Brownsville yielded eight bushels at ten years.
The French varieties planted in and around Vancouver commenced bearing
at seven years, and have never failed. Prominent growers are A. A.
Quarnberg, A. High, Mr. H. J. Biddle, C. G. Shaw.
In Yamhill county, Ed. Greer, James Morison, F. W. Myers, D. H. Turner
and Bland Herring all won prizes at the first walnut fair held in the
state, on nuts from their groves.
WOOD OF THE ENGLISH WALNUT
The wood of the English walnut is very hard and close grained, and
nearly as hard and tough as hickory. It will no doubt be valuable for
furniture, finishing lumber and any other use that may require a
first-class hard wood.
YOUNG GROVES OF OREGON
The Prince walnut grove of Dundee, Yamhill county, thrills the soul of
the onlooker with its beauty, present fruitfulness, and great promise.
Lying on a magnificent hillside, the long rows of evenly set
trees--healthy, luxurious in foliage, and filled with nuts--present a
picture of ideal horticulture worth going many miles to see. There is
not a weed to mar the perfect appearance of the well-tilled soil; not a
dead limb, a broken branch, a sign of neglect or decay. In all, 200
acres are now planted to young walnuts, new areas being added each
season. From the oldest grove, about forty-five acres, the trees from
twelve to fourteen years old, there was marketed in 1905 between two and
three tons of walnuts; in 1906 between four and five tons; in 1907 ten
tons were harvested, bringing the highest market price, 18 and 20 cents
a pound wholesale, two cents more than California nuts. The crop for
1908 was at least one-third heavier than for 1907. One tree on the
Prince place, a Mayette, that has received extra cultivation, by way of
experiment, now twelve years old, has a spread of thirty-eight feet, and
yielded in its eleventh year 125 pounds of excellent nuts. Mr. Woods,
the superintendent of the Prince place, considers walnut growing a
comparatively simple matter; he advocates planting the nut where the
tree is to grow, choosing nuts with care; and then thorough cultivation.
The soil is semi-clayey, red, hill land.
Near Albany, Linn county, 700 acres are planted; the soil is a rich
loam, and seems admirably adapted to walnuts.
Near Junction City, in Lane county, there are 200 acres of young trees.
Every condition seems present for the best results.
Eugene has two small groves.
Yamhill county, where the greatest demonstration thus far has been made,
has close to 3,000 acres in young trees, the planting having been both
on hill and valley lands.
At Grants Pass, Josephine county, there is a promising grove of 600
young trees.
Near Aurora and Hubbard, Marion county, where the soil is a rich, black
loam, rather low, a number of young groves are making a growth of four
and five feet a season.
J. B. Stump, of Monmouth, Polk county, has a very thrifty young grove.
[Illustration: _A Young Willamette Valley Grove_]
This is a view of a part of the R. Jacobson orchard one and one-half
miles west of McMinnville. The land was bought for $60 per acre and when
planted to walnuts sold for $200. The orchard is now five years old and
could not be bought for $600 per acre. It is located on a hill 150 feet
above the level of the valley.
The largest single grafted grove in Oregon is situated one mile from
Junction City, the property of A. R. Martin. He has sixty-five acres.
Washington county is rapidly acquiring popularity as a walnut center,
many fine orchards being now planted. Mr. Fred Groner, near Hillsboro,
is now planting 100 acres to grafted trees. The Oregon Nursery Company
is establishing large walnut nurseries in Washington county.
In Douglas county, vicinity of Drain, little attention has been paid to
walnut culture, but a sufficient number of trees are doing well to
insure good results from large plantings.
In Jackson county, near Medford, a number of young groves have been
planted, and individual trees throughout the Rogue River Valley furnish
ample evidence of correct soil and climatic conditions in that section.
Even when apple trees have been caught by frost the walnuts have escaped
uninjured, bearing later a full crop.
In Tillamook county only sufficient trees have been planted to
demonstrate favorable soil conditions.
While western Oregon is universally conceded to be the natural walnut
center, eastern Oregon also has its localities where walnuts bear
heavily, and will prove a good commercial crop. In Baker county there
are thousands of acres of land adapted to walnuts; young groves are
being planted, and a number of trees have produced fine crops.
When one considers the years of the future when the trees of each of
these young groves will lift their symmetrical heads fifty, sixty,
ninety feet into the air, laden to full capacity with a plenteous crop,
each October dropping their golden-brown nut harvest that falls with the
clink of dollars to the commercial-minded, but with an accompaniment of
finest sentiment in the hearts of those otherwise inclined, one turns
away with a desire to repeat the wisdom of these pioneer planters and
start a grove of his own. With what grander monument could one
commemorate his little span on earth?
LOCATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL GROVES
Much is heard, in a general way, of necessary climate and soil
conditions for walnut culture, some giving preference to the hillsides,
others to valley lands; some contending for a deep, rich loam, others
for sandy soil. But a careful examination of the soils of Oregon and the
trees now bearing thereon produces convincing evidence that almost any
deep, rich, well-drained, western Oregon soil--and some in eastern
Oregon--not underlaid by hardpan, will insure a good harvest, providing
the right varieties are planted. The whole question resolves itself into
a matter of intelligent choice of trees to suit varying conditions.
For example, the famous Prince grove is producing magnificent crops on
soil decidedly clayey; but the place is thoroughly cultivated and
careful selection has been made of hardy trees, the Mayette being
preferred.
Another young grove is proving that walnuts do well on clayey hill land
of buckshot nature, where the drainage is good and there is no rock or
hardpan.
In contrast with the hill land, young groves are making admirable growth
on the rich loam about Aurora and McMinnville.
Mr. Henry Hewitt, of Portland, has fine, young seedlings on a hillside,
elevation 1,000 feet, that made four feet of growth in one season.
[Illustration: _View of a Yamhill Orchard_]
In the neighborhood of all these groves, there are hardy, bearing trees
that amply foreshadow the future of the larger plantings. Colonel Henry
Dosch, the pioneer walnut grower of Oregon, who has experimented rather
thoroughly, even goes so far as to claim that rocky soil is not
objectionable, providing there is no hardpan.
In this, as in all other horticultural pursuits, naturally the richer
soils are best; but the industrious horticulturist, by cultivation,
fertilization, and proper care, can produce a fairly good grove on
unfavorable lands. However, so much of Oregon is favorable by nature
that growers will hardly undertake to enrich the few less desirable
areas for a good many years to come. Land that on the Atlantic slope
would be seized readily enough, in Oregon is passed by, as there is
still so much untouched that nature has made ideal. Years hence growers
accustomed to the less fertile conditions of the far east will
undoubtedly turn their attention to even the few poorer areas in Oregon,
and make of them glowing garden spots.
It is a simple matter to determine the presence of hardpan; you have but
to make a series of tests--four or five to the acre--with a plumber's
auger; and this care should be taken in every area where soil conditions
have not been fully determined.
PLANTING
Gather the walnuts during the fall or winter, fall is better, and put
them in boxes about the size of ordinary apple boxes, putting in first a
layer of sand (the sandy loam along the valley streams is excellent)
about four inches deep, then a layer of walnuts about the same depth,
then cover these over with three or four inches more of sand. Place
these boxes out in the weather on the ground where the water will not
rise in them. The reason for putting the walnuts in boxes instead of
beds, as advised by some planters, is that the boxes may be taken to the
field or nursery and the nuts lifted carefully from the sand and placed
where they are to grow. It sometimes happens in a wet and backward
spring that the walnuts will sprout before the ground is ready for
planting, in which case they must be handled with the tenderest care and
not exposed to the atmosphere any longer than can be helped.
One grower had a bed of hybrid black walnuts. The season was late and
when the ground was ready for planting many had started to grow. He
engaged some boys to grabble out the nuts from the sand beds, urging
care, but many of the best were broken and injured. Some of them had
sent down a taproot nearly or quite three inches in length. These early
ones, under proper conditions, are the most vigorous and surest growers,
but in the treatment they received many were injured and killed.
Black walnuts are slow to germinate, sometimes laying in the ground two
years before sprouting. But if kept properly they will start by June or
July.
For the nursery the ground should be plowed deep and thoroughly
pulverized. Plant the nuts 6 to 12 inches apart in rows about 3 feet
apart. Put a handful of the sand from the boxes around each walnut. Our
soil will appreciate the sand or silt from the drifts along the valley
streams, as it has proven to be one of the best fertilizers known. If
anyone doubts this let him try a quantity of it on his kitchen garden.
[Illustration: _A California Black Walnut near McMinnville_]
On the Ford place, near the North Yamhill bridge, is one of the finest
trees in the county, 33 inches diameter, height 75 feet, spread of
branches 60 feet. Bears an abundance of nuts every year. It is 34 years
old. The seeds are much used to raise grafting stock.
Nearly all of the black walnut seed produced in the Willamette valley
will partake more or less of a mixed or hybrid nature, whether from a
California black, Japanese black, or American black. The black walnuts
are very susceptible to cross pollinization and the English walnut also,
for be it known that
With wandering bees and the sweet May breeze,
That virile tide goes far and wide.
The nut should be planted two or three inches deep. A good authority
says to place the nut on its side as it would lay after falling from the
tree. If the nut is sprouted make a hole in the well pulverized soil and
put the root carefully down into it.
The best way for planting in the orchard is to bore a hole with a post
or well auger 4 or 5 feet deep where the tree is to grow, put in a stick
of dynamite and break up the ground thoroughly.
Or, better still, bore down to permanent moisture and fill the lower
hole with good soil or other root food, then dynamite 4 or 5 feet of the
upper section of the hole. Nothing will produce a vigorous and thrifty
tree like a deep and vigorous root system, and no tree responds to
cultivation and care as does the walnut, white or black. After bursting
up the soil, excavate and put in a half bushel of barn or other mould,
well rotted. This will force the tree in the earlier years of its life
and can be no hindrance to it later. Cover the manure with a foot or two
of soil and plant. Both before and after planting the ground should be
ploughed and harrowed until it is as mellow as an ash heap. Plant three
or four nuts in a hill 6 to 8 inches apart and at the end of the first
season's growth pull out all but the most vigorous one. For
transplanting from the nursery the same methods should be followed in
the preparation of the hole and the soil as in planting the seed nuts.
If one wants to lay the foundation for a fine orchard and a fine fortune
as a consequence, these preliminary steps must not be neglected. Because
in time you expect this tree to pay you a rental of $8 to $12 a month.
If you are building a cottage that would bring in that sum, you would
put in much more work and money besides. The wise grower would rather
have a man plant six trees for him in one day than sixty. The walnut is
usually a very vigorous tree and will fight its way among adverse
conditions and surroundings, but its golden showers are much more
abundant if it is protected from the scars of battle, especially in its
youth. It almost seems to respond to the love and affection given to it
by a kind master. Animals respond to kindness, and why not the domestic
trees? It will pay you a big salary after a while when your other bank
accounts and your health and strength fail.
[Illustration: _American Black Walnuts_]
A magnificent row of nine American black walnuts, 35 or 40 years old.
The tree in the foreground is 20 inches in diameter of trunk. The
tallest of the trees is nearly 60 feet and they have a spread of more
than 70 feet. They are at the residence of Dave Johnson on the Portland
road about 8 miles from McMinnville. Seed from such trees as these would
produce the very best trees for grafting upon.
There are very few California blacks of pure strain in the country. The
hybrids or crosses with the American or eastern black walnut, are better
trees for grafting stock than the pure Californias. They are more hardy
and better adapted to our climate.
WHAT TO PLANT
Horticulturists of equal fame and experience take different views on the
subject of planting, some contending that the nut should be planted
where the tree is to grow; others that seedlings are the thing, and
still others that trees should be grafted. And as all three plans have
produced good results in Oregon, the individual planter may take his
choice, according to the circumstances in which he is situated. The
truth is that the walnut is one of the hardiest of trees, and with good
attention will not disappoint if the right kinds are properly started.
In planting walnuts to raise seedling trees the best available seed nuts
should be used. Select the best and most prolific variety and the one
most suited to the climate.
It is claimed that the nuts from a grafted tree will produce the best
seedling trees. This may be true as a rule, as the nut from such a tree
will have some of the characteristics of the stock upon which the parent
tree was grafted. It may inherit some of the resistant qualities of the
black walnut or the rapid growth of the California hybrids. It may have
early ripening qualities. It is well to consider all these points as
well as the quality of the nut when selecting seed.