Nut tree

“ This is probably well known to all of you who have produced and sold nut trees. It is astonishing how many questions (some of which are amusing) the public can ask, and very often those that ask the most questions, leading one to believe they are a good prospect for a large order, may order only one or two trees, or none at all. Then there are those who have never bought a nut tree before, and when they see their first one are dissatisfied because it does not have a root system like a fruit tree ”

“ Our function is in educating more people to an appreciation of what improved nut trees are and what they can do as they are at present developed. Nut growing is just beginning to come into its own and the nut tree should take its place as a valuable shade tree, should be included in the home orchard and used as a paying crop by the farmer in the North. ”

“ I'm heart and soul in favor of the movement for better nut trees. I'm tired of having trees planted that produce nothing but litter, and for the small boy to keep breaking all the time instead of going fishing. As I said the other day through the committee on trees of the Bird and Tree Club of Decatur we have placed in that city a hundred and fourteen nut trees. I believe that I can go to the different purchasers and say that this association is anxious to increase the knowledge of the people as to the value of nut orchards and nut trees for food and shade and I can get them to become members. ”

“ In the writer's opinion that natural tap root of the nut tree growing down, down to water is not to be treated as of no importance.
So let your seedlings grow up and down happily while you get ready the stuff with which to build their future character, for seedling trees are very slow in coming into bearing, and uncertain in type and quality of nut. Grafted trees bear early and true to type. ”

“ As evidence of what a nut tree will do, those of you who have visited Devil's Den in Gettysburg Battle Field, have perhaps noticed a butternut tree, now quite old, growing out of the top of the cleft in a huge rock, having sent its roots down to the adjoining soil for nourishment. ”

“ In most of the states there are fruit extension specialists but only an occasional landscape extension specialist; so I try to interest the fruit men in the planting of nut trees, and a few of them are doing this, particularly in Indiana, where the fruit extension specialist has been interested in having pecan and English walnut trees planted in school yards. It seems difficult to get people to comprehend and practice nut tree growing and to understand the various uses of nut trees. We can judge from the small audience at this meeting that there are not enough people interested in nut growing. ”

“ As a result of this act, we hope sometime to see the highways in the southern part of the State lined with walnut and other nut [Pg 35] bearing trees. A tree that will serve a double purpose should be planted wherever possible.
Tree planting is a thing in which we are all interested. Those of you who have been abroad remember the long rows of trees, often fruit trees, that lined the roads. In this country we cannot plant fruit trees along our roads as there is nobody to care for them and disease would quickly start and spread to our orchards. But nut trees can be safely planted. ”

“ There is no need of taking your time now to recapitulate the many things that ought to be done to promote the planting of nut trees and the scientific investigation of nut growing. Dean Watt's address, published in the 12th annual report, and the letter of the secretary to state vice-presidents, contain outlines for these things. The attention of the present convention is more particularly to be given to advocating nut tree planting on a production basis. ”

“ But after I mentioned that a walnut or a hickory or a pecan tree is an ornamental tree, and just as much so as the elm, the oak, or the maple, they thought it would be a good idea to use them and agreed to recommend the use of nut trees as shade, lawn and roadside trees. Then I suggested the filbert for clump planting as an ornamental. I hope in the future that nut trees and filberts will be used more extensively by the landscape extension men in their work throughout the country. ”

“ We nut growers have been in the habit of thinking of growing nut trees on land which is good for nothing else, so that it is interesting to find nurseries using this good land and making a success of nut tree growing. ”

“ Surely there is no doubt in the mind of any member of this association concerning the importance of nut culture in the United States. From the standpoint of food alone, we are more than justified in waging a vigorous campaign for the planting of millions of trees. Who can mention any article of food that is more nutritious, more wholesome, more delicious than any and all of our native nuts as well as many imported species? And what other class of trees even approaches the nut as a dual purpose tree? In fact, as is well known, nut trees have four distinct values ”

“ Urge a program of education. Nut trees require good soil and proper care. It would be folly for an organization to sponsor a program for nut tree planting, unless the growers are provided with proper cultural directions. The tendency in the past has been to plant nut trees in out-of-the-way places, and let nature take her course. Nature took her course; the result, scrubby trees and disgruntled planters.
9. Initiate future nut contests for the purpose of arousing public interests in nut growing and for bringing to light new varieties. ”

“ I believe I would not plant along the public highway with the idea of getting any fruit from the trees. I think however when you have a railroad going through your premises it is entirely practicable to plant your nut trees alongside the railroad, especially where there is a fill. Where the roots will grow under it and thrive luxuriantly. Nearly every farmer has a small stream running through his premises. You plant your walnut trees or your filbert trees along that stream, and you will have magnificent results. I do not want to be understood as disparaging nut tree planting. ”

“ Of course we have taken care to preserve their symmetry, but I think our nut trees come pretty close to being our best shade tree. I will challenge anybody to find a handsomer tree than a well-grown pecan. It is a very stalwart tree with its branches of waving foliage, which is the characteristic of an ideal shade tree, and yet, in addition to that, it produces in the fall magnificent nuts. So the proposition of home planting is one that pays quick dividends on attention given. I think I have convinced my neighbors that it is a good deal better to raise handsome nut trees than poplars. ”

“ I have been propagating nut trees since 1910, and have never yet known one of my propagated nut trees to fail to carry the characteristics of the parent tree, as to habits of growth, bark, bud formation, foliage, texture of wood, or quality of nuts. The Deming Purple walnut tree, when asexually propagated, reproduces the purple wood, so I reasoned the Lamb variety would reproduce figured wood. Nature seldom blunders. ”

“ As memorial trees, also, nut trees are being quite extensively planted. A great many black walnuts have been planted in the honor of our soldiers who gave their lives in the war and it is a very suitable tree to plant for this purpose.
Now that our forests are becoming more scarce, we are beginning to appreciate more fully the value of their products. Nuts, extracts, maple syrup and many minor products are obtained from our native trees. If man could be surrounded with the right assortment of trees, he would need little else. ”

“ Of course, we got a lot of self-pruning and a lot of competition, as we would in forests by the trees growing up and competing with each other and reaching for height and light. Some of them died and some were so badly suppressed that they failed to make any growth at all. But there is one tree that we still have in that orchard that we are proud of, not from the standpoint of nut production, nor does it produce a very good nut as far as the human taste is concerned. But it has made a single stick that far surpasses any other tree we have in the orchard. ”

“ I believe that alfalfa and tree crops will be two of the greatest factors in the rehabilitation of the farm, especially the nut trees, for the reason that nut trees do not require the same high degree of care, spraying, pruning, as do apple and peach trees, nor are the products as perishable. A crop of nuts can be harvested and stacked up in barrels, and boxes, in the smoke house, the barn or in a flat car and go to the market tomorrow, next week or next month. ”

“ The nut tree is one of the things that will make the boys and girls of the farm love their homes. In a few years boys and girls will be going back to a beautiful farm, not to pig pens, but where there are beautiful trees. ”

“ The question of annual bearing of nut trees is a subject needing investigation. I rather expect we shall find that this factor is closely connected with over-production of a tree one year, fertility and moisture supply, or, in other words, the nuts may be much like apples. While the nature of tree growth may tend to cause trees to be alternate producers, man may upset this natural habit to some extent by proper cultural practices and thus cause the tree to produce, not a full crop in the off year but at least some fruits that will be on the profit side. ”

“ But if he is dissatisfied with a nut tree, it is his own fault if he does not change it. It can be top worked. He does not care to top work maples or oaks. We only top work to get something better than we have. The trees, of course, that interest us specially in top working are the nut trees. We have seedling pecans, seedling walnuts, seedling hickories, and seedling chestnuts. Down at the mouth of Green River in Kentucky are nearly two hundred acres of wild pecan trees. So far as we know there are only two trees in that orchard worthy of propagation. ”

“ I believe that nut tree growing offers one of the safest of those outlets. I believe that a nut orchard should be a part of a general farming operation. I want to give you my ideas about inter-crops. Fifteen years ago the doctors gave me three months to live, drove me out of my business, and away from my home to prolong the agony for a few weeks or months, and I found, among my orchard trees, a reasonable amount of health which, to me, repays a greater value than I could reckon in dollars and cents. ”

“ First, the firm conviction that nut trees, carefully chosen, properly planted and intelligently cared for, have a place on many farms as a cash crop for the market and a food crop for the farm family and, second, the poor results from many nut tree plantings on farms. ”

“ An analysis shows that Guild nut tree plantings range from the true farmer to the gentleman farmer, from the small lot owner to the owner of hundreds of acres of non-dividend paying land, from the keen horticulturist to the youth who is taking his first step in following a fascinating new hobby.
The selling of nut trees is a very special problem. It is not like selling other kinds of trees. We recognize the fact that those who plant Pedigree nut trees are in a class by themselves and we, therefore, set up a separate department for them, making a special study of the subject. ”

“ One other method that could be used to spread the love of nut growing would be to have the association offer a nut tree to different schools where they would plant it as an Arbor Day tree. In that way the children would learn the value of the grafted nut tree and the value of real first-class nuts. The result would be that other people would become interested in grafted nuts and thus extend the interest in the whole nut-growing proposition, and your membership would most likely increase. ”

“ The profitable production of fruit on nut trees under cultivation has no doubt been influenced by several factors. Assuming that the present-day seedlings and propagated varieties are winter hardy and the tree of bearing age, 10 to 15 years old, one may expect a reasonable harvest. It is somewhat disappointing to the owner of a single nut tree or for the grower on a semi or commercial basis to find that the tree or several trees have failed to set fruit. ”

“ Good pasture lands, clear streams, plenty of trees for shade are all important and real assets to any farm. Shade produced by a tree is incomparable to any man-made structure. Instead of compromising with any shade tree let us all accept it as our mission to educate the people to know that nut trees are the most economical and useful. ”

“ States which can use good nut tree stock in their conservation work should be solicited, their interest aroused in plantings for the dual purpose of home use and wildlife, and a few select varieties sold or given to them each year for experimental use. Some growers are already generous in releasing a few new and promising nut tree varieties for trial growing in various sections of the country. ”

“ Each nut tree is a new individual but with a family inheritance strongly enough marked to make the planting of seedlings, when done in large quantities, from the best parents, a sort of gamble in which the percentage is in favor of the gambler—which is, as you should know, unusual. ”