Walnut Growing in Oregon
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Various >> Walnut Growing in Oregon
By careful selection and cross pollination many and better varieties
will be produced. No doubt a nut superior to any that has yet appeared
in any country will yet be originated in the Willamette Valley, as in
the case of the Bing and Lambert cherry and some other fruits.
The improvement of the walnut in this section is one of the most fertile
fields of investigation to be found anywhere and one that promises big
reward to the successful culturist. And the walnut grower need not wait
long to find whether he has a prize or not, for just as soon as the
little sprout comes from the ground and has hardened sufficient to
handle, a skillful grafter can place it in a bearing tree and the second
or third year know the result of his experiment by the production of
fruit, and this not more than three or four years from the planting of
the seed.
The advantage of planting walnuts, providing you secure first generation
nuts of the right variety for your soil and atmospheric conditions, is
in simplicity and inexpensiveness. You merely purchase your nuts of a
reliable concern, or from an isolated grove of one variety (many send
direct to France, where pure strains can be more readily gotten), and in
February plant them on their sides in a shallow box of moist sand; keep
in a cool place. In April, or as soon as they sprout, dig a hole 2-1/2
or 3 feet deep, put in surface loam, and plant three or four nuts to a
hole about 2 or 3 inches deep. They will come up by June and make a
growth of a foot or so the first season.
It is contended by many that nothing is gained by planting seedlings in
the nursery, as the set-back from transplanting prevents their bearing
any earlier than trees of the same age grown from nuts.
Grafted trees, on the other hand, are difficult to obtain in large
numbers, are expensive, but produce nuts of uniform size and beauty, and
the pollination is said to be more sure.
The industry is still too young in Oregon for the final word to have
been spoken on this point. The future will undoubtedly add much valuable
information as larger experience supplants theory with facts.
The vital point is to plant good nuts or reliable seedlings from a pure
strain.
In choosing varieties be governed by your location. If frosts are to be
feared get late-blooming varieties, the leading ones established in
Oregon being the Mayette and the Franquette. Other varieties will
undoubtedly be introduced in the next few years that will withstand
frost in regions where walnut planting now seems impractical. Mr. Henry
Hewitt's one tree that blooms the fourth of July, at an elevation of
1,000 feet, is evidence of the possibilities in this direction. Air
drainage is necessary.
The tested varieties in Oregon to date, and the results, are as follows:
Mayettes (the famous "Grenoble" of commerce) and Franquettes are first
choice for hardiness and for reliable commercial crops, the nuts being
of good size, fine flavor and in every way meeting the highest market
demands.
Praeparturiens bear earlier than other varieties, are very productive
and as fine flavored as a hickory nut, but the nuts are small for best
commercial prices.
The Chaberte is a hardy tree, good for the uplands, and prolific; a
delicious nut, small but excellent for confectioners use.
The Ford Mammoth, Glady and Bijou are too large to find favor for
commercial purposes.
[Illustration: _A Fine Japanese Hybrid in Lafayette_]
The Parisienne, Meylan and Lanfray are newer varieties that give much
promise, but have not been thoroughly tested.
H. M. Williamson, Secretary Oregon State Board of Horticulture, in an
article says:
"The extremely unfavorable weather of the past winter (1908-9) has been
one of the best things which could have happened to many heedless
persons who planted walnut trees without first taking pains to learn
anything about the business. The destruction of many young trees of the
Santa Barbara type was a blessing to those who planted them, and the
planters deserve no sympathy, for the warnings not to plant trees of
that type have been ample for many years past.
"The fine condition of suitably located groves of walnut trees of
Franquette, Mayette and other French varieties, after a winter which
proved the most trying to fruit trees of all kinds which we have known
during a long period of years, has given firm confidence to those who
are leading in the development of the walnut industry in Oregon.
"The varieties which are best adapted to culture in this state are those
which produce the finest nuts known to the world."
[Illustration: _Walnut Groves, Dundee, Oregon_]
SEEDLING WALNUTS
The leading commercial orchard in the state is that of Mr. Thomas
Prince, of Yamhill county, and is composed almost entirely of seedling
trees. The history of this orchard is best told by Mr. Prince in the
following very conservative letter:
"About 17 years ago the Ladd Stock Farm of Yamhill, Oregon, by the
advice of Mr. H. E. Dosch, then Secretary of the Oregon Horticultural
Society, purchased from the late Felix Gillett, Nevada City, Cal., and
planted quite a number of young walnut trees which are now in bearing.
The first few years their cattle received first attention and the young
trees were not cultivated as much as they should have been to make good
growth. They therefore do not grow the quantity of walnuts they would
have produced with better cultivation. Two or three years after this Mr.
Z. T. Davis, of Dundee, Oregon, also by advice of Mr. Dosch, purchased
of Mr. Gillett some 500 one-year-old seedlings. One year later the
writer, who had some land adjoining Mr. Davis, also became interested
and set out about 1,500 additional trees, and about two years later
purchased the place belonging to Mr. Davis, and became owner of the
young trees at Dundee, with the exception of a few purchased by several
neighbors. All are now in bearing.
"Those who do not know the facts are inclined to give the writer more
credit than he is entitled to. Mr. Dosch, the Ladds, Mr. Davis and Mr.
Gillett were first to interest themselves and should receive the credit
to which they are entitled.
"We have now in Oregon and Washington quite a few trees in bearing, and
we believe they can be grown here with profit. There is much to learn.
We find the young trees should be carefully set out and receive good
cultivation for the first few years. That the selection of the trees and
the location in which to grow them are very important. The number of
trees to the acre, and whether to grow seedling or grafted trees; and if
grafted whether root grafting or top grafting is best must be
considered.
"I think growing of walnuts has the advantage of many other products.
The crop is easily grown, harvested and marketed; the labor greatly
economized and the net profits a larger per cent of the gross receipts;
while sometimes with other crops the results are just the reverse--the
net profits but a small per cent of the gross receipts.
"The question is often asked how much is land worth that is suitable;
how long before trees will bear, and how much will they produce, etc.
The price of land depends largely on location; generally it is worth
from $50 to $150 per acre. Seedling trees come into bearing from 7 to 9
years of age, quantity from 10 to 50 pounds per tree; number of trees
per acre, 20 to 40."
[Illustration: _Sixty Year Old Walnut Trees on Derr Place_]
These trees are about 60 years old and were planted by I. M. Johns, who
took the donation claim two miles southeast of McMinnville, about 1844,
now the Derr farm. The trunk of the largest one on the right is 10 feet
in circumference, and is probably the largest English walnut tree in
Oregon. They have some nuts every year, but are shy bearers, due no
doubt to lack of proper pollination. The nut is not large, but is full
of good meat and resembles the Parry. The trees are about two hundred
yards from the Yamhill river, are hale and hearty and seem good for a
few centuries. In fact, all of the seedlings examined in this county are
healthy and vigorous.
There are half a dozen or more walnut trees growing in the woods and
about the garden of Mr. J. T. Jones, seven miles west of McMinnville,
which are a valuable study to the walnut grower. They are seedlings from
the Casey tree, and they all bear full crops every year. The largest is
21 inches in diameter. One of them has a much larger and finer nut than
that grown on the Casey tree. Hardpan is reached about 18 inches below
the surface, which would indicate that no tap root were needed were it
not for the fact that a tiny brook runs down through the garden not far
from the trees.
Following is the testimony of Col. Henry E. Dosch, taken from "Better
Fruit" of August, 1908:
"It is over twenty years since I first experimented with nut
culture, more especially English, or, more properly speaking,
French walnut culture, and by persistent effort in keeping this
matter before the horticulturists am more than gratified to know
that this important industry is at last receiving the attention it
deserves; and a few who took my advice in the beginning and planted
on a commercial basis are now reaping the benefit, as their
products command the highest price in the market.
"First generation nuts are produced on original trees, or on trees
grafted from the original trees. Those nuts when planted produce
second generation trees, and the nuts from these second generation
trees are a little larger than the original or first generation,
which is due to the peculiar soil and climatic conditions of the
Pacific Northwest, so well adapted to nut culture. Trees grown from
second generation nuts retrograde very rapidly, producing nuts not
half so large as even the first generation trees, and finally
running out altogether. Hence it is very essential that we plant
nuts from the original trees, or trees grown from the original nuts
or grafted from the original trees."
A tree on John E. Brooks' claim, Casey Place, is one of the earliest and
most important trees in the country. It has borne a good crop every year
for thirty-five years, and in all that time has led a strenuous life. It
was planted first in Portland from a nut supposed to have been brought
from the Rhine in Germany by a German sea captain. It was broken down by
stock when Amasa Brooks saw it, and with the consent of the owner
transplanted it to its present site, on the side of a red hill a few
rods above the house and about 100 feet above the level of the valley.
There it was much abused by stock, and exposed to other accidents. When
it began to bear, the squirrels would gather the nuts as soon as they
were big enough to attract them. When the tree was visited in August,
1909, for the purpose of getting a photograph it was found that a
squirrel had burrowed under the roots, making an opening large enough to
admit a good-sized foxhound, and a quantity of nuts hulls were piled
about it and scattered beneath the tree. It is 23 inches in diameter and
has a branch spread of nearly 60 feet. Trees of the fourth generation
from this tree are in bearing near McMinnville and are producing fairly
good nuts, some better than the original tree, demonstrating that the
seedling walnut tree can be improved here by seed selection.
[Illustration: _A Grafted Walnut_]
The above is a two-year-old grafted tree in the orchard of Mr. Prince.
It was sent to him by Judge Leib, of San Jose, in order to convince him
of the superiority of the grafted tree. You will note that the little
bush has two good-sized nuts, and also that it bore one last year, the
first year from the nursery. With this ratio of increase at 20 years of
age it would produce about three and one-quarter tons of walnuts,
counting 42 nuts to the pound, the weight of first-class Oregon walnuts.
But this is not probable.
GRAFTED TREES
The testimony in favor of the grafted tree is not yet very abundant in
Oregon, as the grafting business is new; but with the evidence at hand
it will surely have a standing in court.
Prof. Lewis speaks plainly on this subject. He says:
"One of the main points of discussion is, Which are preferable--grafted
or seedling trees? Let us consider the seedling tree first. There are
men who claim that these are superior to grafted trees, especially in
size, prolificness, etc.; that there is something about our wonderful
Oregon climate that causes the so-called second generation trees to bear
larger and better fruits than the parent plant. And these writers love
to dwell on the subject of generation. There is at times a sort of
mystery, an uncanny vagueness connected with this subject that is
baffling and bewildering to the layman, and causes him to listen with
mouth agape. It is the same sweet silly story that we have had to learn
by bitter experience with other nuts and fruits, and some of us will
evidently pay dearly for it in the case of the walnut. The term 'first
generation' is generally applied to the parent tree--some say the
original tree, while others put the clause on the original grafted tree.
Nuts taken from such trees and planted produce the second generation
trees. These may be equal, may be superior, or may be inferior to the
original stock. It is this very variation and instability that makes the
seedling to a more or less degree a gambling proposition."
The following is taken from a paper on walnut culture by Luther Burbank,
read before the annual meeting of the California Fruit Growers
convention:
"In all cases the best results will be obtained by grafting on our
native California black walnut or some of its hybrids. No one who grows
English walnuts on their own roots need expect to be able to compete
with those who grow them on the native black walnut roots, for when
grown on these roots the trees will uniformly be larger and longer
lived, will hardly be affected by blight and other diseases, and will
bear from two to four times as many nuts, which will be of larger size
and of much better quality. These are facts, not theories, and walnuts
growers should take heed.
"Although not popular among nurserymen, yet the best way to produce a
paying orchard of walnuts is to plant the nuts from some vigorous black
walnut tree, three or four in each place where a tree is to stand. At
the end of the first summer remove all but the strongest among them. Let
the trees grow as they will, for from three to six years, until they
have formed their own natural, vigorous system of roots, then graft to
the best variety extant which thrives in your locality, and if on deep,
well-drained land you will at once have a grove of walnuts which will
pay, at present, or even with very much lower prices, a most princely
interest on your investment. By grafting in the nursery, or before the
native tree has had time to produce its own system of roots by its own
rapid-growing leafy top, you have gained little or nothing over
planting trees on their own roots, for the foliage of any tree governs
the size, extent and form of the root system. Take heed, as these are
facts, not fancies, and are not to be neglected if you would have a
walnut grove on a safe foundation.
"I hold in my hands a record, and also a photograph, of one of the Santa
Rosa walnut trees, grafted, as I recommended, on the black walnut, 1891;
this was handed to me by the owner, George C. Payne, of Campbell. The
record may be of interest to you: Dimensions (1905)--Spread of top, 66
feet; circumference one foot above ground, 8 feet 9 inches. No record of
nuts was kept until 1897, which amounted to 250 pounds; 1898, 302
pounds; 1899, 229 pounds; 1900, 600 pounds; 1901, 237 pounds; 1902, 478
pounds; 1903, 380 pounds; 1904, 481 pounds; 1905, 269 pounds; 1908, 712
pounds.
"The walnut has generally been considered a very difficult tree to graft
successfully. Mr. Payne has perfected a mode of grafting which in his
hands is without doubt the most successful known; by it he is uniformly
successful, often making one hundred per cent of the grafts to grow. Who
can do better by any method?
"When you plant another tree, why not plant a walnut? Then, besides
sentiment, shade and leaves, you may have a perennial supply of nuts,
the improved kinds of which furnish the most delicious, nutritious and
healthful food which has ever been known. The old-fashioned hit-or-miss
nuts, which we used to purchase at the grocery store, were generally of
a rich, irregular mixture in form, size and color, with meats of varying
degrees of unsoundness, bitter, musty, rancid, or with no meat at all.
From these early memories, and the usual accompanying after-effects,
nuts have not been a very popular food for regular use until lately,
when good ones at a moderate price can generally, but not always, be
purchased at all first-class stores.
"The consumption of nuts is probably increasing among all civilized
nations today faster than that of any other food, and we should keep up
with this increasing demand and make the increase still more rapid by
producing nuts of uniformly good quality. This can be done without extra
effort, and with an increase in the health and rapid and permanent
increase in the wealth of ourselves and neighbors."
[Illustration: _Row of Eleven Year Old Top Grafted Black Walnut
Hybrids_]
An American black walnut growing on a lot on the east side of Grant
street, residence of J. C. Cooper, McMinnville, grafted by Mr. Payne May
14, 1908, grew 7-1/2 feet in 95 days and was still growing when the
terminal buds were nipped by the early September frost of that year. The
sprouts were pruned back to 12 inches. The tree made a vigorous growth
in 1909, making a spread of 13 feet. Some think the American black a
better tree for grafting stock that the California black. One of the
noblest and grandest trees in any American forest is the American black
walnut, and while a little slow at the beginning of its career it is
only a question of time when it will overtake all others. It knows no
disease or pests, and he who plants it lays a foundation for 20 to 50
generations to come as well as for himself and those of his own
household.
A four-year-old hybrid, 4 inches in diameter, grafted in by Mr. Payne,
grew a sprout as shown, 7 feet 9 inches high in four months from the
setting of the graft. It is growing on the east side of D street near
the Presbyterian church in front of the residence of Mrs. Sarah
Updegraf, McMinnville, Oregon. Three trees there all show the same
vigor, with little or no cultivation.
John H. Hartog, formerly of Eugene, wrote of the experience of Mr. E.
Terpening, one of the most successful walnut growers near that city.
"Mr. Terpening is a devotee of the grafted tree. And why? A burnt child
spurns the fire, says the proverb. Mr. Terpening set out second
generation Mayettes and Franquettes, expecting that these seedlings
would produce true, but when they commenced to bear, behold his
amazement at finding that he had a variety of almost every kind. This
was enough to convince him that in the future he would use grafted
trees, and know what he was doing and what kind of nut he was raising.
"Counting out trees of other kinds, he has four acres in walnuts, and
these produced--
In 1905 700 pounds
In 1906 1200 pounds
In 1907 2000 pounds
In 1908 3000 pounds
"This spring he set out 450 more trees and wisely he put them 50 feet
apart and will grow peaches in between for a few years. While it is
generally said that walnuts come into bearing after 8 years, Mr.
Terpening states that the grafted tree will bear commercially in 6
years, which tallies exactly with my experience.
"The Terpening walnut trees are grafted on American black and his
favorite variety is the Mayette and lately the so-called Improved
Mayette."
WALNUT GRAFTING
Walnut grafting is in a class by itself, and walnut budding is not a
success as practiced at the present time, although the ordinary method
is shown in the cut. The top grafting method shown is easy and sure if
you have "the know-how and skill." One of the important things to
remember in tree surgery as well as other kinds, is to work quickly and
deftly. Don't let the wounds of the scion or stub remain exposed longer
than necessary. Make the cuts smooth with a very sharp knife, kept sharp
by frequent "stropping.'" Expert walnut grafters are few, but the
ordinary skillful orchardist or amateur can do fairly successful work by
a study of the drawings in "Details of Walnut Grafting" on next page,
and using common sense methods.
[Illustration: Details of Walnut Grafting]
Cut off the branch or stock to be grafted with a sharp priming saw at a
point where the stump will be from one to two and a half inches in
diameter. Split through the center of the stub with a sharp knife as
shown in figure 1, using a mallet. Depress the point of the splitting
knife and strike with the mallet, cutting the bark and sap down the side
of the stub instead of tearing it, then depress the handle and cut down
the other side in the same way. Open the split slightly with a hardwood
wedge, as in figure 2. Slightly bevel the split, cutting upward, with a
sharp knife as in figure 3. Insert the carefully fitted scion as at
figure 4, being careful to have the cambium layer, the inner layer of
the bark, of both stub and scion come together.
When the scion is carefully fitted remove the wedge and fill the split
with paper as shown at figure 5. Then cover all wounds over with wax
brushed on warm as at figure 6. The melted wax should be about the
consistency of thick honey. Tie a paper sack over all as at figure 7.
This should remain until scions begin to grow. It keeps them warm and
prevents drying out by hot winds. In from ten days to three weeks the
scions will have started sufficient to gradually remove the cover as at
figure 8. In eight or ten days from the time grafts are set a small
opening should be cut or torn in the north side of the paper sack so
that the sprouting buds may have air and their growth noted.
When the stock is too large to split through the center it should be
split to one side of center as shown in figure 9. The method of shaping
the scions is shown in figures 10, 11 and 12. Good scions and poor are
shown in 13 and 14. Scions with buds not too far apart are best. Prong
grafting is shown in figures 15 to 18, and flute budding in 19 and 20.
In grafting the stock should not close on the scion with sufficient
force to bruise or injure it, but just tight enough to hold.
Scions should be of last year's wood and pruned or cut from the trees in
late winter, when the tree is dormant, and cut into about 12-inch
lengths, long enough to make three or four grafts. Select upright wood.
Drooping branches make a sprawling and sometimes a barren tree.
The dormant scions should be packed away in a cool, dark cellar in damp
sand or moss, or put in cold storage and kept dormant until ready for
use. Do not allow the buds to swell. It will be well to look at them
occasionally to see that they do not get too dry nor be so damp as to
mold.
In the spring when the sap is well up and the trees to be grafted have
sprouted and are growing during April and May the grafting should be
done. Work may be continued even after the catkins are out and the
leaves half grown.
The methods described are those practiced by Mr. George C. Payne,
probably the most successful walnut grafter in the business.
[Illustration: _Tools Used in Walnut Grafting_
Plate One. Furnished by Oregon Agricultural College]
GRAFTING WAX
The following formula is the grafting wax used by Mr. Payne:
Rosin, 5 pounds.
Beeswax, 1 pound.
Finely pulverized charcoal. 1-2 pound.
Raw linseed oil, 1 gill
Be sure that the charcoal is finely pulverized. First melt the beeswax
and rosin, being careful not to have the fire too hot. Add the charcoal,
stirring constantly, and then add the oil. Mould into bricks by pouring
into greased pans. When desiring to use break off a few lumps and melt
in such a contrivance as is shown in the plate of grafting tools. The
wax must be quite liquid if applied successfully.
Nursery grafting, or root grafting, is not a success as practiced at
present. The best grafters do not succeed with more than 10 to 15 per
cent. This makes the grafted tree cost from $1.50 to $2.00 per tree, and
makes that kind of walnut planting expensive. However, Col. Dosch, in
his article, quotes Professor Leckenby, the noted agrostologist, as
saying that if directions are religiously followed ninety per cent of
the grafts will grow. The directions are as follows:
"For walnut grafts on scions use one gallon of water with four
teaspoonfuls of sulphate of quinine. Cut scions submerged in the
solution, and wash the cut on tree at once, to prevent it from turning
black, acting as an antiseptic; then insert, the scion as on other fruit
trees."
This, from such authority, is worthy of a trial. A great amount of
experimenting has been done in walnut grafting and a way to success will
be found.