“ It may be said that too great a time would elapse between the planting of the seed and the maturity of the tree, but as time goes nowadays, it would not be an unreasonable period, and there are those within the sound of my voice now, who will witness in their maturity the magnificent trees producing their valuable products and adding to the beauty of the landscape and to the welfare of mankind. ”

“ If, in addition, he has sufficient respect for consistency to try to be so exact in his judgment as to be able to go over a large lot of nuts today, we will say, and several months hence go over the same lot again and render the same verdict on each one of them, he will doubtless give the matter up as an impossibility, and yet that is just what is wanted and expected of those who judge the nuts which are sent in to the annual contests, which contests have resulted in bringing to the attention of the nut growing world the nuts of so many fine trees. ”

“ The great cause of the high cost of living at the present time is that the pigs and the cattle are eating up our corn and other good things that we ought to eat ourselves. If we had a sufficient area of land, perhaps even the sides of our roadways and railways planted out to black walnuts and other good nut trees, we would have all the protein and fat we needed, perhaps as much as we are getting now, and more, and the cattle industry might be entirely dismissed from consideration, and a great deal of labor would be saved. ”

“ When a blight of any sort sets out, chestnut blight, measles, scarlet fever—any blight you please, you are talking natural history, you are taking biology, about an animal or a plant, about a microbe, a living thing. All of these living things run out of their vital energy in time. Each microbe runs out of its energy just as a breed of horses or of strawberries runs out of its energy. All varieties, varietal types, run out of their natural energy, so that it is simply a question of length of time before this family microbe or family group of this microbe will lose its energy. ”

“ The American people love beautiful trees, possibly the expression of a reaction from the sentiment of the pioneers who regarded trees as their enemies, handicaps to agriculture to be removed as thoroughly and expeditiously as possible. But with virgin soil producing enormous crops, they naturally centered their interest on ornamental trees without reference to their fruits. Hence the horse-chestnut, buck-eye, maple, locust, oak, poplar, along the highways and byways of America, instead of the native nut trees and the Persian or English walnut. ”

“ One of Michigan's noblest, hardiest, and most often abused trees is the American beech. It is common from north to south. No tree is more handsome and none, unless possibly it be the white birch, is so often defaced. Dr. Robt. T. Morris, of New York City, reminds us that according to the scriptures, man, genus Homo, is a finished product made by and in the image of the Creator. A safe assumption is that the scriptural reference is not to the creature whose initials appear on the trunk of a beech or whose knife has removed bark from white birch. ”

“ Recently I have had a good many people come down to my place to look at the small orchard I have there. I aim to have varieties of every nut tree that is being propagated, and I think if I keep at it a few years longer I will pretty nearly have them; and in most cases, when people have come down that way, they have become members afterwards. Two or three of them have. I am only twenty miles from New York City, and it is not difficult, if I find someone interested, to invite them down to look over the trees growing there, and usually when they come they join afterwards. ”

“ If you simply have one tree that is a good one, that is enough, because you can graft over all sorts of black walnuts, Japanese walnut and Persian walnut stocks with the one or two trees which are known to be good in Michigan. One good tree in the state which is bearing good nuts of desirable qualities is enough. Graft all of your other walnuts back from it. And in setting out the native black walnuts, chestnuts and the hickories of different species, it is important always to distinguish in regard to intention—whether they are to be for forest purposes or for nut purposes. ”

“ The white oak, especially when young, holds many of its leaves in spring and these with their brown color, give a warmth to the snowy landscape. One could make a most beautiful park by planting nothing but oaks and they should rank with maples and elms as street trees. ”

“ The nut itself is a very beautiful brown color, the outer bark a golden yellow, the leaves of the plants slightly colored with bronze, pink or yellow, a most beautiful combination, a pleasure to look upon, and a sight never to be forgotten. ”

“ We ought to be particularly careful in not encouraging people to buy trees that we are not sure will succeed. For every plantation that fails means a loss of money and an obstacle to future progress. But every tree that succeeds means an advertisement for years to come.
I do not see any reason why southern Michigan cannot raise many improved varieties of black walnut and perhaps some other nut trees as well. Our study of native nut tree plantations this summer, shows that with proper care they may be very profitable and we hope to see a great extension of such plantations in this State. ”

“ We are producing more than enough food in corn and other foodstuffs to feed nearly three times our present population, and most of it is wasted in the energy which the hog, the steer and other animals use up in running around and keeping warm. That is where the great loss comes. In nuts we have a choice foodstuff as digestible as any other foodstuff, and Prof. Torrey and Prof. Mendel and others who have recently made experiments have shown that the protein of the nut and the protein of vegetables in general is not so putrescible as the protein of meats. ”

“ The other nut trees suitable for roadside planting, are not specially attractive to mankind for their fruits, as heretofore used or utilized, but may eventually become so under modern methods of cooking or proper treatment. In their raw state, however, all are edible and also palatable to most people, but their chief food value today, is to provide rich provender to domestic animals and birds, or the desirable wild life of the woodlands, all of which devour them eagerly, adding quickly to their weight and greatly to their quality and flavor of their flesh. ”

“ It is practical to plant nuts for the purpose of getting a stock, but not for the purpose of getting nuts. But we plant them in the nursery rows, and then when they are two years old, preferably (some like three-year-old trees) , we graft them over to good kinds in the nursery row; then they remain there for a year or two, and are transferred or sold. We now have members of this association who are experts in grafting nut trees who make that a business. It is not generally known that we have in this country three journals devoted wholly to the subject of nut culture. ”

“ Grafting I believe myself, will produce a finer plant and the operation of doing so seems quite successful, but a great many varieties produce so many suckers that the graft is liable to be choked or crowded out if not constantly watched, and it should not be expected of the average person to know the difference between the graft and the wild shoot, and consequently, in a comparative short time, he would have a wild or common hazel. For that reason grafted plants should not be used for the trade until our people get better acquainted with hazel plants. ”

“ I will, however, say that plants raised from seed should never be planted for fruit bearing unless they are grafted or budded, as it has been fully and positively proven that plants raised from seed, even if the very finest nuts of our European hybrids are planted, will not produce nuts as good as those planted, but will almost invariably go back to the original type, the Corylus avellana. It is alright to raise plants from seeds for the sake of getting stock to graft or bud on, but, as to variety, the seedlings are unreliable. ”

“ Battle Creek has the honor today and tomorrow to entertain the Northern Nut Growers' Association. This association with other associations having similar purposes, is undertaking to do, it seems to me, one of the most important things that can be done for the American people—to show us how we can get our nitrogen, our protein, and our fats without the livestock industry which is wasting at least nine-tenths of the grain, or in fact at least nineteen-twentieths of all our foodstuffs. ”

“ There is evidence on all sides that the people of Michigan are deeply interested in nut culture. Some have invested in pecan lands in the Far South; no doubt some own Persian (English) walnut, almond or filbert orchards on the Pacific Coast; and others are at the point of planting nut trees in Michigan. Everybody would go nutting in fall if he could. Michigan leads all other northern states in what its institutions and some of its people have done toward developing the nut industry. ”

“ I have known trees in our city, 4 or 5 varieties, for more than 30 years, bearing more or less fruit year after year, and have never noticed any blight or anything wrong with them. Should blight appear, I should remove all affected limbs to the sound and healthy wood, as we would do to our pear and quince trees when blight appears among them. I do not believe that properly treated hazel bushes will ever suffer much from blight, at least not in our vicinity. Neither do I believe that any more pruning than I have outlined is required or necessary to our hazel plants. ”

“ If there are to be black walnuts in our future forests, the trees must be planted or the nuts planted and properly safeguarded. From a forestry viewpoint, the black walnut is a good tree to plant. It has [Pg 38] a high value and the demand for the wood is very great. And, for planting, trees should be chosen that will give a good quality nut as far as possible.
For ornamental planting, too, nut trees may often be chosen to advantage. For the farm yard they are often the best choice. Hickories or black walnut are long lived trees and the hickory is very ornamental. ”

“ Often in old pastures one finds forlorn, scraggly looking bushes and is told they are hazelnut bushes. One would not pick out bushes like these to plant in his front yard, and yet, when given a chance, there is scarcely a more attractive shrub than the hazel. It is one of the first shrubs to blossom, the staminate flowers hanging in slender, graceful yellowish-brown catkins, while the pistillate flowers are little points of purplish-red protruding from the buds. ”

“ Chittenden's paper, it is a very important matter to impress upon children and others who are setting out trees the idea that a tree is not able to care for itself as a rule. It is quite the exception for a tree set out by itself to thrive and enter into competition with other trees and bushes and shade, in the early years, and insects later. I suppose the number of ordinary trees including maples that make their way to a successful old age would not represent one in many hundred thousands that make a start in the sprouting seed. ”

“ Along with our vegetable oils in general, coconut oil and peanut oil contain insufficient quantities of the fat soluble vitamine to maintain growth in young animals. Whether the other nut oils will prove more efficacious in this respect, is now under investigation. As far as I am aware, the antiscorbutic properties of nuts have not been studied.
With the population of the world on a steady increase, it continually becomes necessary for mankind to seek out new sources of food, and utilize products that formerly had received little attention as possible foods. ”