Date nut

“ You may wonder if many of our nut growers know nut varieties well enough to detect any but the most obvious sports. Nut improvement through bud selection within the variety lies ahead of us.
Among fruit growers the search seems to have been for fruits of different or more pleasing color. As nut growers we are more likely to be interested in nut sports having better size, kernel, cracking qualities, etc. Trees that are able to ripen their nuts in short or cool seasons are especially desirable in some of our more northern states. ”

“ I think that if we were to take a vote tonight in here, get an expression on the variety Stabler, we'd say, "Yes, it's a curious nut, it's a curiosity. Some trees sometimes bear single-lobe nuts in varying proportions. It is a fine nut when you get it, but they don't bear enough and they don't bear regularly enough. ”

“ Chase has to say, or otherwise we might as well quit now and raise seedling nuts to the best of our ability and sell them to the commercial crackers and let it go at that. But, if we do that, what's the use of searching out better varieties?
Dr. Cross: Mr. Chairman: I believe that if a nut acceptable to the home consumer, one which extracts easily and is attractive and palatable and is productive—if that type of nut is scored and comes to the attention of a sufficient number of growers, then I think the commercial people will utilize it. ”

“ It bears the nuts when six or eight years old, after which period it is never seen without them; they grow usually six or eight on one stalk, which diverges from the heart of the tree; they are the size of a man’s head, but more conical. The nut, it is well known, when divested of its husk, is exceedingly hard, and requires a hammer to break it, or to be sawed through the middle to procure the nourishment it affords; when young, this consists of a white liquid, which I can compare to nothing better than to milk and water mixed with sugar, and which is an exceedingly cool and agreeable beverage ”

“ Now, as far as we are concerned, it seems to me the Northern Nut Growers' Association made a pretty good stab at surveying the materials available. In other words, I think an additional nut contest is not going to turn up the perfect nut. That is, we have one contest after another, and the ones that win the first prizes as the best nuts we can find are not markedly better. There is no great difference away from the average that we have had in the others. ”

“ The association has spent a good deal of time in developing exact methods of measuring quantitatively the various characteristics of nuts which are considered valuable, and that study has given us methods of comparing notes from year to year, comparing the same nut, and I have noticed that it is quite frequent that the kind of nut that is good one year, will not be so good the next year. ”

“ Professor Craig: I think that point is well taken.
President Morris: There is no doubt about that. In that same connection—I would choose nuts for seed purposes of a mean type, for the reason that nature is all the while establishing a mean. The big pecan is a freak. If you plant big or small nuts, you don't get big or small nuts in return. You get both big and little seeking a mean.
Mr. Roper: The large nut will give a better tree. ”

“ I want to talk to you about the possibility of making some small cash contributions next summer for a nut contest. We have not had any contributions for a nut contest for some time and it is the only way we can get any new varieties. I would like to start this nut contest next September. It will be necessary to get a lot of people interested and a lot of publicity in the newspapers. ”

“ It has a thin hull which you can pop off by merely pressing your thumb against it after it is thoroughly dry, coming off very clean leaving a good looking nut. The kernel is very light straw-colored and you can generally get them out in good pieces, about one-quarter of the whole kernel. Above all it matures very early, about the middle of September or sooner, and this is the deciding factor for any nut, because, no matter how well It cracks, how prolific it may be, or hardy, if you do not get a ripe nut you have nothing for here in the north. ”

“ Every man carried a punch, which he wanted to enlarge and make effective. If Corbett used apple sauce to oil his arm for a knock-out blow, every man with red blood wanted apples. Now we must work our nut campaign in some such popular way, if we expect to put a nut on the wheel of progress. ”

“ Most people are fond of nuts, but if the reader wants to enjoy the full flavour, to get out of a nut all that is in it, let him take the following recipe:—“First of all, let the nut be cracked, if possible, between your own molars, for these are, after all, the first and most natural and best of all nut-crackers, better quoad hoc than an instrument of the purest silver or steel; and there is besides, remember, something pleasant to the palate in the feel and flavour even of an uncracked nut. ”

“ This stolid old chap is a hard nut to crack.
Butternut—
Old Mr. Butternut, just from Brazil,
Is rugged and rough as the side of a hill.
But like many a countenance quite as ill-favored.
He covers a kernel deliciously flavored.
All—
Now, dearest schoolmates, I'm sure we have told
All the queer rhymes that nut-shell can hold. ”

“ The shrub in itself has beauty, and it bears nuts sometimes as large as those of the average shagbark hickory. The kernel is of good quality, but the shell is so thick that these nuts are chiefly attractive to squirrels and to men who are out of work. I do not know the origin of the nut which is known in the market as the Barcelona hazel, but I imagine the plants bearing this nut are derived from the Corylus pontica. (Specimens of branches and nuts of various species and varieties of hazels are now passed about in the audience.) ”

“ It is of a tough fleshy consistence, but when ripe splits open, and shows the dark-brown nut within, covered with the crimson mace, and is then a most beautiful object. Within the thin, hard shell of the nut is the seed, which is the nutmeg of commerce. ”

“ President Morris: We have got to get away from the idea that we are going to find the best hickory nut or the best walnut or the best nut of any kind in the largest nut. Nature spreads out just so much material in the way of flavor and good quality of a nut, and if it is in a large nut, those good qualities are spread out thin; if it is in a small nut, they are concentrated. ”

“ Outside this solid coating it often spreads a softer covering with a nauseous, bitter taste, so familiar to us all in the walnut, which at once warns off the enemy from attacking the unsavory morsel. Not content with all these protective devices, of color, taste, and hardness, the nut in many cases contains poisonous juices, and is thickly clad in hooked and pointed mail, which wounds the hands or lips of the would-be robber. In brief, a nut is a seed which has survived in the struggle for life by means of multiplied protections against the attacks of enemies. ”

“ To this tree, the world owes a debt of gratitude for its generous unfailing supply of a rich wholesome food. Almost every child through the sense of sight, touch [Pg 194] and taste, is familiar with that peculiar, triangular-shaped, sharp-edged, black-coated nut of commerce, with such a delicious kernel, known as the brazil nut. ”

“ In two weeks, the Winter Fair opened and Mr. Corsan was invited to put on his nut exhibit as an attraction. In the meantime he was on the radio once a week to talk on health, food and various subjects, always getting around to nuts as a food—and this new discovery, the Carpathian walnut. The radio broadcasts brought interested people right to his exhibit. He gave an hourly talk on nuts and a pamphlet was given out. The Winter Fair sales grossed $300.00 and there was another $100.00 on follow-up sales by Christmas. ”

“ It seems to me that nut contests at regular intervals help to stimulate interest in better varieties of nuts and we do gain a certain amount of free advertising through newspapers and magazines. The results of the contest should state, in my opinion, the comparison of the varieties selected as the best of the contest with the ratings of varieties already named and now in propagation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ At its summit is a waving tuft of dark green, glossy, pinnate leaves, from ten to fifteen feet in length, like mammoth plumes, immediately under which are suspended the nuts in heavy bunches, often weighing three hundred pounds. When the nut has attained nearly its full size, it is said to be in the milk, and it then furnishes a delightful, cooling, and healthful beverage. ”

“ Our N.N.G.A., as it is today, has been built on the unselfish efforts of a number of far-sighted men who had an ideal and a will to see that ideal accomplished. I think I was fortunate to know a number of the early founders of the organization either through their visits to my home where my father and they would talk their favorite subject of nut varieties known, just found, or the ideal variety they hoped they'd locate—perhaps in the next nut contest. ”

“ "To exemplify,—a beautiful glossy nut, which, blessed with original strength, has outlived all the storms of autumn. Not a puncture, not a weak spot any where.—This nut," he continued, with playful solemnity,—"while so many of its brethren have fallen and been trodden under foot, is still in possession of all the happiness that a hazel-nut can be supposed capable of." ”

“ In conclusion, I wish to state that selected varieties of filbert nuts can be grown in the Northeast. Hybrids between the American and European filbert are good growers and producers, although I find that the flavor of the nut isn't as good as that of the pure avellana. I would advise the planting of a dozen bushes by each of a great number of persons further to prove the possibilities of growing this specific nut in the New England area, also to promote the idea of growing both feed and food on trees and bushes. ”

“ President Morris: The tree has been cut so much for scions that it has never had a fair chance. It is a prolific tree. It is well worthy of propagation. [Pg 87]
Mr. Littlepage: It is, perhaps,—judging from looking at it—a very fine shagbark for commercial purposes. Isn't it true that within the next ten years there will, in all probability, be a complete reversion in the mind of the nut culturist as to the kind and quality of the nut he will propagate. I will supplement that by saying that heretofore, both in the pecan and other nut fields, the whole tendency has been toward something big. ”

“ I have yet to see a tree growing in the Rochester area bearing as large a nut as those grown in the southeast, and all the large nuts I have tasted did not seem to be as sweet as ours. Probably the old saying "the smaller the nut, the sweeter the nut" is true. Of course these are all seedling trees, but by this time we should know whether size of nut and sweetness of kernel are determined by climate or individual trees.
Our largest trees are eleven-year old seedlings of unknown origin. One is, I believe, outstanding. ”

“ Littlepage has shown that here and there a variety of exceptional merit has appeared, fortuitously and without assistance or guidance from man. These superior varieties are being placed under observation by interested nut enthusiasts like Messrs. Littlepage, Niblack, and McCoy, and others, who are not only studying the nut in its native haunts, but are experimenting with methods of propagation so that we may confidently look forward to a stable supply of these natural selections in the years near at hand. ”

“ You can hear the thump, [185] thump of nuts as they drop from their lofty perches in the walnut and hickory-nut trees.
Sit down quietly on that log and you will soon see the busy nut gatherers. With their tails curled over their backs, they race up and down the trees, or spring from branch to branch, carrying their precious burdens to their homes in the hollows of trunk or limb. Now one sits up straight, holding a nut between his paws, and turning it slowly as he cracks and eats it. If he sees you, he whisks out of sight, or scolds you from a safe place far above the ground. ”

“ At seventy years of age I have become interested in nut growing—in nut culture. (Applause.) I am not planting particularly for myself, not that I expect to get any harvest from these trees, but I do want to see them bear fruit—bear nuts. I want to plant the right kind of trees. I have joined this Association; I intend to retain a membership in it as long as the Association lives. ”

“ One mistake we must not make is not to be too sure of the value of a nut because it is large, thin-shelled and has a fine flavor but is a poor cropper. The nut that produces a very heavy crop is the valuable nut. Thus McAllister hican and the Stabler black are worthless because of their extremely thin crop.
Another nut that looks large and excellent on the tree is the Ohio black walnut, whose huge dirty hull and small nut condemns it. I like thin-hulled nuts that come out clean. ”