“ MR. STOKE: Is there a tendency for the top to be more vigorous, to have more growth, or vice versa or is growth uniform?
DR. CRANE: It may be uniform. Depends somewhat on the varieties and the seedlings. There may be some overgrowth or some outgrowth, but there is only one test for it, and that is at the graft union. With an axe or knife and you cut out a strip of bark across the union. It may look absolutely perfect, but if there is a black line developed there that is just like a lead pencil line between the stock and the scion, the tree is on the way out. It's just a matter of time. ”

“ Perhaps foremost is the recognition that, for the most part, the so-called varieties of garden plants are not uniform in their behavior. Some are nothing more than transplants of variations found in the wild, such as the Japanese Juglans Sieboldiana var. cordiformis, a population having its own geographic range and distinguished from the typical element of the species by several morphological characters. It is a botanical variety that is cultivated. It is not a product of domestication. ”

“ There is a popular appeal to the nut business which most of us are susceptible to,—like wanting to produce large nuts,—and of seeing the first nut,—and to again gather nuts like we did as children. Ask a man how large a nut he found and he will lie as he will about a fish he has just caught.
Then, there is the romantic visionary who would transform the whole universe into a sort of fairyland nut grove—where there are no insects, diseases, or squirrels,—and where the nuts fall polished into open bags. ”

“ So, just as nature has provided for the distribution of her plant varieties through the maws of birds and animals, so it may be that Heaven has provided for the fine thoughts of our old members to be caught by us predatory individuals and made to bear fruit again in this new day. Really this is one way we exist and go forward in our organization.
A crop of "tares" which we read about in the scripture enriches the soil for the next crop. As a forest dies, a new crop of trees spring up. Even a dead tree gives rise to a whole creation of countless bacteria and fungi. ”

“ People buy what they think will give them the most satisfaction.
We are living in a cold-blooded society and people are not going to choke with emotion when we mention the old hollow tree where the possums hatched, or the wide spreading chestnut. People may not even want to join our NNGA. This is a free country and people can just sit in the sun on the bare ground if they want to. They may not want trees and can eat grape nuts if they want. We know they need the hobby—the shade—the beauty—the protection or even nuts which nut trees will bring them. ”

“ All of us have problems to deal with in every walk of life. We run up against difficulties, and usually much of our time is taken up in solving or coping with them. At Beltsville we answer a great many letters, and a great many people ask us about their problems. In answering problems, we push the industry forward, because we remove something that is holding it back.
Sometimes the answer to a problem is found by trying to analyze our successes. In growing nut trees we may have an unusually good crop on a particular variety or tree. ”

“ One bad fire in an ungrazed or unmown piece of brush-covered undergrowth can destroy in an hour 50 years of timber growth. If we plant deep-rooted nut trees in deep, rich soil, and if we fertilize that soil as any valuable permanent pasture land is fertilized, we can graze that land without injury to the trees or the land.
One other reason which is given for the prohibition of grazing is the desire to save young tree growth. This is justified in ordinary forestry practice by the need to get annual income through successive cuttings. The young growth must be encouraged to come on. ”

“ Moderator, I don't believe we are, provided that we maintain high standards in the varieties distributed and tested. I feel that when we select a variety we should select it because it is a good nut, not that it's a world beater, for big size and thick, rough, rugged shell that is not sealed, and which is of no value for human use or consumption, excepting for firewood or fuel. ”

“ This Association is talking about horticultural varieties, not botanical varieties. A correct term for a horticultural variety is a clone.
The American Pomological Society is over a hundred years old, and they have followed all types of experiences and usages, and they are up to date, and we can't follow any better pattern than what the American Pomological Society has done all down through the years. The Northern Nut Growers Association would be the laughing stock of the world who are in the know if they don't adopt the rules of nomenclature as set forth by the American Pomological Society. ”

“ Is it any wonder that so many of the pioneers who had lived long enough in the termite area to see what could happen to other lumber, chose walnut, whenever they could get it, for structural work and for weatherboard protection?
Safety of operation is still another matter for consideration. If I wish to create an estate for my family or for my last years, how can I go about it with the best chance for success? Shall I go prospecting for precious metals? Thousands have failed at that job where but few have succeeded. ”

“ The land they stand on is grazed. They are not set the traditional 80 feet apart. Their nut crops may dwindle away. One never sees walnut trees growing in pure stands—always with other species which scatter their seeds and push in. They are not monopolists—like the pines.
Very well, we shall see. My own small experiment in unorthodox ways has the temerity to suggest a new treatment for a species of timber tree which I personally regard as America's very best gift of its kind to the world. For 17 years my modified forest-type planting of black walnut trees has not disappointed me. ”

“ In view of what I have found out during the last 20 years, I am quite sure that, if I were starting now, I should expect to make farming a major element in my estate building, but it would be mostly tree and grass farming, not grain farming. I should need livestock, of course, to make use of the grass. And I like livestock.
This is what I ask of life: First of all, I must enjoy my work. I do not care to spend all my days in getting ready to live. ”

“ When considering hardiness, climate is one thing and air drainage is another. In any climatic zone the exact location or site, particularly air drainage is important. I have my orchard on a southwest slope with perfect air drainage. I have 250-some trees that are six or seven years old growing very nicely, and I have not had any loss, even with English walnut, the Carpathian or any of the other trees. I think that many of us are overlooking the fact that air drainage and location of the orchard is one of the main things. ”

“ Rather than lose several years of growth and expense, the better growers top-worked the trees with a good pollinizer. The result was a profitable harvest of red and yellow apples, or varieties of different maturity. The peach grower liked the looks of a very fine peach and after a short trial found that the variety was not hardy enough to withstand the winter and early spring temperatures. The experiences of the commercial fruit growers could be well used by the nut grower. Only trees adapted to local conditions should be planted regardless of the recommendations of the nurseryman. ”

“ In the United States the post oak (Quercus stellata) is the only oak species that has been seriously damaged by the blight.
Thus, the blight is threatening not only the native chestnut forest growth and orchards of Europe, but also the oaks. A steady extension of the blight throughout Italy can be expected. Advance infections in Yugoslavia are being cut out but how long the disease can be held back depends on future efforts along this line. Delay work in Yugoslavia also delays the time of loss of the chestnut and damage to the oak growth of Greece and Turkey. ”

“ No, the new Code deals, not with wild species, varieties and hybrids, but with what are commonly called "garden varieties"—namely, forms which have been brought into existence by selection, hybridization, or other similar processes devised by man, and are maintained in cultivation as clones or pure lines by man's care and skill—such plants as Rose 'Peace,' Apple 'Beauty of Bath,' and thousands of others. ”

“ Thirty years ago we did not have knowledge which has been gained by the experimenters in the nut growing industry in the interim. Therefore no one could foresee what the future would be. We hopeful ones of that era planted trees and experimented with seeds from all over the world because we thought nut trees deserved a place not only in the orchard but in the dietary needs of the human being as well. Many of the wisest and most respected experimenters of this era have passed beyond this life ”

“ We could no doubt get cooperation from County Agents and Conservation Departments because of wind breaks and erosion control. Farmers who could be induced to do this work would no doubt become nut enthusiasts in due time.
I feel that at this time it may be in line to pay a slight tribute to our friend the squirrel. I wonder how many of us gave a thought as to who was responsible for all of our wild trees, such as black walnuts, butternuts, hickories, hazels and so forth, and how they came about. The answer is simple, the squirrels, of course. ”

“ We have had a lot of experience, similar to that reported in New York, with grafted trees dying. We get seedling trees dying, too, but I agree that there is more damage from fall freezes, spring freezes and perhaps from straight low temperature winter injury with the grafted trees than with the seedling trees. Furthermore, I am very critical of the tactics of some of the nurseries. They have grafted on seedlings of absolutely unknown origin or mixed origin. They will take a South Chinese variety and graft it on seedlings that for hundreds of years have been grown in North China. ”

“ It's going to take a lot of hard work, and our job is not to peer into the dim future, but to attack those problems which are right with us every day and ask some of our friends to join the Nut Growers Association. We are all widely separated in different walks of life, and each in his own world is just apt to see things a whole lot like the goldfish in a bowl. ”

“ There is no doubt in the minds of those responsible for the Code that the existence of internationally trusted and respected registration authorities would do more than anything else to stabilize and simplify the naming of cultivated plants. It will obviously take some time before authorities can be set up for all—or even the majority—of important groups, but the International Committee is doing its best to push ahead quickly with this very important side of their work. ”

“ However, skepticism on the part of the public and scarcity of nursery stock has delayed commercial planting. A fair portion of good growers are now convinced that commercial growing is profitable and stock, our own and others, is becoming more plentiful.
Our experience has been confined largely to the Schafer walnut and it is, aside from some promising seedlings, so far as we know, the only proven Carpathian in this area. We do not wish to discredit possibilities of any other variety, but must speak out of our own observations. ”

“ A weak tree has little chance and may come into bearing too late to be of value for the present owner. The annual growth should be checked each year and, unless 10 to 12 inches of growth has been made the previous year, some means of stimulating more growth should be employed. The hickory, pecan and black walnut, as a rule, make little new annual growth while the Persian or Carpathian walnut, heartnut and chestnut ordinarily produce good annual growth and an abundance of good foliage grown where it counts the most, on the new wood. ”

“ I'd like to Comment about conditions in Europe with reference to seedlings and varieties. The general practice there is for each little farmer to graft from the best variety in his section, especially in Italy where you find hundreds of varieties.
In Portugal we were all very much impressed with one area where the government has had an active program in persuading the chestnut owners to topwork all their trees to three varieties. These varieties are very good ones, and they are getting a very greatly increased price on account of the high quality and uniformity of the nuts they export. ”

“ We find our public at large, not only our members, seem to be fascinated by the fact that the Persian walnut can be grown in this latitude. So in speaking to them about it, when I am speaking to our members, I try to say Persian walnut, but when speaking to the public at large, they don't know what I am talking about so I come out flatly and say English walnut. I tell them that we can't expect to grow the California type, but we have a hardier type coming from the Carpathian mountains or Germany or Russia or Holland, that can be grown successfully in this part of the country. ”

“ It is a painfully familiar fact that many cultivars are known by more than one name, and that many cultivar-names have been applied to more than one cultivar—although the position is not so bad as it is in the case of botanical names! ”

“ Peach growers have the same problem. Stink bug will, if allowed to multiply in a peach orchard, ruin the peaches, making injuries very similar to that caused by the plum curculio. The only satisfactory method of control of stink bug injury is to eliminate the host plants on which they live, such as most legume plants, blackberry briars and other brambles. In an orchard, in a grass sod, stink bug is no problem, but where we have soy beans or cow peas or something like that growing in the orchard, or we have blackberry briars or wild raspberries nearby, stink bug is a bad problem. ”

“ Another hypothesis is that development of the curly grain is dependent upon the foliage of the tree. This has been demonstrated to be true in instances where the foliage of fruit plants determines the characteristics of the growth of the trunk and roots and of the fruit itself. (Ref. 5, 6) It might be, therefore, that the failure of this particular trunk to show curly grain is related to the fact that the top of the tree at Ithaca was of another variety than the original Lamb. Possibly the foliage of the original variety producing the curly character is necessary to produce the curly grain. ”