Read Ebook: Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fourteenth Annual Meeting Washington D.C. September 26 27 and 28 1923 by Northern Nut Growers Association Editor

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The second function that developed upon the secretary was the management of the membership lists and matters relating thereto, which, though perhaps essentially a duty of the secretary of an association such as this, had been managed by the treasurer since the time when he took over the duties of the secretary in 1918. This had involved quite an expenditure for clerical work. This clerical work would still be an expense to the association, had not one of our members, Mr. H. J. Hilliard, of Sound View, Connecticut, volunteered to do it. Mr. Hilliard was formerly connected with a bank, is entirely familiar with the keeping of accounts, is a man of means and leisure, and I shall take pleasure in offering his name to fill the vacant treasurership. Heretofore, this association has had to pay little or nothing for clerical work which has been done either by the secretary, or by the treasurer and his personal clerical force.

In accordance with the vote of the Rochester convention the secretary drafted two letters, one entitled, "To the State Vice-Presidents of the N. N. G. A. and All Members of the Association"; the other, "To All Women Members of the N. N. G. A. and to All Women Interested, or Interestable, in Nut Culture." Both of these letters were sent to all members of the association, and the letter to women was sent also to a considerable list of women not members. The results of these letters were, so far as the secretary has means of knowing, not over a half dozen letters of appreciation from members, one new woman member, and a letter of appreciation from another woman.

The secretary has reason to believe, however, that the letters were the means of stimulating several of the state vice-presidents to activity in the matter of getting new members, in writing articles for the press and in giving illustrated talks on nut growing. Among those who are known to have given such talks or articles, are Dr. Morris, Mr. Weber, Mr. Spencer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Turk, Mr. O'Connor, Mr. and Mrs. Corsan, Mr. Reed, Mr. Neilson, Wilkinson, Snyder, Matthews, Kains, MacDaniels, Fagan, Kaufman, Rick, Bixby, the secretary, and, doubtless, a number of others.

Possibly the suggestion of the secretary was responsible for the formation of a subsidiary association in Rochester. On this a report is desirable from President McGlennon or Mr. Olcott. One or two other members have written of their intention to form subsidiary associations.

A leaflet was also issued by the secretary announcing Mr. Jones' offer to give seedling nut trees as a premium to new members. The demand for these trees not being up to expectation, Mr. Jones very generously sent out five such trees in place of the original offer of one or two. I hope that Mr. Jones will make a report of the number of trees thus distributed. Although the circular distinctly stated that these trees were premiums for new members, many members understood it as an offer for renewal of membership as well, and I think that in every such instance, Mr. Jones himself forgot and sent the trees. A few members, whose names came in too late, were disappointed in not getting trees. Mr. Jones has intimated that it may be possible to correct these omissions this fall. I hope that Mr. Jones will make a statement about this, and I hope also, that the association will not overlook Mr. Jones' liberality in distributing these trees entirely at his own expense.

There have been expressions of regret, and I am sure that many more have felt it, that it has not been possible to go on with the nut contests and the giving of prizes for new and valuable nuts. As there is not likely to be any one else willing to assume the really immense labor involved in the nut contests, conducted as Mr. Bixby has conducted them, I suppose that all we can do is to hope that circumstances will sometime again make it possible for Mr. Bixby to resume these very valuable services for the development of nut culture in the United States. I say intentionally "the United States," because I believe that these services have benefitted the whole country. This fact makes me the bolder in uttering the daring suggestion that perhaps, now that Mr. Bixby has shown the way, and developed exact methods that may be safely followed, which, if I do not misapprehend, is what it states that it desires before presuming to take up any new line of work, the Department of Agriculture itself might consider it a matter worthy of its attention. Professor J. A. Neilson, of the less cautious Canadian Department of Agriculture, is rendering very valuable services of this kind for the Dominion of Canada.

There is evidence that several more state agricultural institutions are giving attention to nut growing. .

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.

Regarding the campaign for new members, perhaps the chairman of the committee on membership will make some remarks. The present membership of the association is 337, if we drop no names this year for non-payment of dues. Of course, those who do not pay their dues should be dropped. But the association has never made any ruling as to how long names should be carried on the rolls. The secretary has been easy in sending copies of the annual reports to members in arrears, hoping that the conscience-stricken recipients would hasten to pay up. But there is no proof that such has been the case, and the secretary would recommend making a rule as to when a member is no longer in good standing, when he should be dropped from the rolls, and what members are entitled to copies of the annual report. The secretary would make the suggestion that there be an amendment to the by-laws to the effect that members who have not paid their dues within three months from the time of their first notification, be sent a second notification to the effect that they are not in good standing on account of non-payment of dues and are not entitled to receive a copy of the annual report; but that all privileges may be restored on payment of dues. At the end of three months from the sending of the second notice, the names of members not in good standing should be dropped. The annual report should be sent only to members in good standing.

Mr. Hilliard asked me what our fiscal year was. I answered that I did not think we had any. It would undoubtedly be a convenience if we are to have a bank man for a treasurer, and a ruling by the association would be in place.

Our accredited list of nut nurserymen is out of date and a new list should be issued. Recommendations as to changes in or additions to that list, should be considered by the members.

It is desirable that the annual reports of the association should be indexed and bound, but no hand has yet been found to do it.

Our ambitions have so far outstripped our sources of revenue that we have come to look on an annual deficit as a normal and defensible thing. I think it is indefensible. I think it is going to have a bad effect on our attendance and our morals if the members have to look forward to what amounts to a good big assessment at every convention. A deficit is not inevitable. The secretary-treasurer was able to report a surplus at the first, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh meetings. The income from membership dues should be enough to enable the printing of the annual report. But if not I should be in favor of not printing the report until funds were on hand to pay for it.

In rendering an account of the funds of the association I will first state that there is on hand, cash in bank, .89. This amount must be charged with the Bowditch hickory prize fund, , which leaves .89, cash on hand. We owe Mr. Bixby for paying the stenographer's bill, 5.00, and Mr. Olcott for printing, .58, a total of 9.58. This makes our deficit .69, practically just one hundred dollars.

It should be recalled that in arriving at this result it was necessary to use up our reserve fund from life memberships, amounting to 5.00. If we count that in with the deficit, it amounts to 5.00.

A detailed account of receipts and expenditures is herewith submitted. At the present moment, on account of a rush of other work, on account of difficulties of other kinds, and because of a division of the work between Mr. Hilliard and myself, I am unable to give the exact amount received from memberships and sale of reports and bulletins. This I hope to correct before the annual report goes to press.

RECEIPTS

Turned over by the Treasurer, Mar. 1, 1923: Money for current expenses $ 89.66 From life memberships 95.00 Bowditch hickory prize 25.00 From Litchfield Savings Society 130.00 Membership dues Sale of reports and bulletins

EXPENDITURES

The report of the secretary was adopted.

The following paper was read by the acting secretary as Mr. Neilson was unable to be present:

SOME FURTHER NOTES ON NUT CULTURE IN CANADA.

JAS. A. NEILSON, B. S. A., M. S., Extension Horticulturist, Hort. Expt. Station, Vineland Sta., Ont.

The nut culture activities outlined in the paper presented by the writer at the convention in Rochester were carried on as much as time and means would permit during the past year. The search for nut trees has been continued and has yielded some interesting results. Several valuable trees of kinds already noted have been located and additional species discovered. Among these were five pecan trees which have been growing on the farm of C. R. James at Richmond Hill, a small town fifteen miles north of Toronto. These trees were about fifty years old and appeared to be perfectly hardy, as far as growth was concerned, but owing to the northern location seldom produced ripened nuts. The season of 1919, however, was longer and somewhat warmer than most seasons, and a fully ripened crop of nuts was gathered. The nuts are small with a thin shell and a fine sweet kernel. The largest tree in the lot is about 35 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 16" and a spread of branches equal to its height. Another small plantation of pecans was found at Niagara-on-the-Lake on the fruit farm of John Morgan. Some of these trees were of grafted sorts and others were seedlings. Both grafted and seedling trees were making a good growth and appeared to be perfectly healthy.

In as much as the pecan is native to a country having a longer growing season and higher average summer temperatures than southern Ontario, it is quite encouraging to find that these trees will even grow here, to say nothing of bearing nuts. This would seem to indicate that there are possibilities for some of the pecan-bitternut and pecan-shagbark hybrids in southern Ontario where the shagbark and the bitternut grow quite freely.

I also located two excellent shagbark hickories which have fair-sized nuts with thin shell and fine kernels. One of these trees grows about twelve miles west of Simcoe, Ontario, and produces quite a large nut with a shell so thin that it can be easily cracked with the teeth. This particular tree is about seventy feet tall and bore ten bushels of nuts in one season. I have records of several other good hickories and plan to inspect these at the earliest opportunity.

Several more good English walnuts have been located and examined. Among these there is one tree over seventy-five years old which at one time bore thirty bushels of ripe nuts.

A few good heartnut trees have been located at various points. One of these trees is about thirty-five feet tall, with a spread of nearly sixty feet from tip to tip of branches. The present owner harvested several bushels of good nuts in one season from this tree.

I bought with my own funds a bushel of nuts from this tree and sent them in lots ranging from six to thirty to interested parties in various parts of Ontario. Of course I know that this is not in accordance with the best nut cultural principals, but I thought it was one way of getting nut trees started. If these nuts do not reproduce true to type, they will serve as a good stock for budding or grafting with the best introduced heartnuts later on. Another good heartnut was located almost on the outskirts of Toronto. At five years from planting this tree bore one-half bushel of fine, thin-shelled nuts.

In my last paper I stated that filberts had not done well in Ontario. I am glad to state that I will now have to retract that statement and inform you that good filbert trees have been found near Ancaster, which is close to Hamilton. These trees were about fifty years old, the largest specimen being nearly a foot in diameter at the base and about 25 feet tall. The trees bore well, but on account of the hordes of black and grey squirrels very few nuts were harvested. A fine lot of filberts was also found at Tyroconnell, a small hamlet on the north shore of Lake Erie, in Elgin County. These trees are nearly fifty years old and bear excellent nuts. Much to my surprise I found a fine clump of filberts growing quite near the campus of the O. A. C. at Guelph. These trees were introduced from England about sixteen years ago and at first they did not appear to be hardy, but eventually they established themselves and are now doing well in growth and fruitfulness. I was somewhat amused to think that I was searching so diligently for valuable nut trees all over the Province and did not even know of the existence of these trees, until a year and a half after I made my initial attempt to discover valuable nut trees.

I will have to correct another statement made at the last meeting, to the effect that almonds do not grow well in Canada except on Vancouver Island. Since then I have found a few, good, hard-shelled almond trees growing and yielding well in the Lake Erie country. This leads me to believe that almonds can be grown, with reasonable success, anywhere in the peach belt, particularly in the lake district.

In addition to my efforts to locate good trees I persuaded the authorities at the O. A. C. to establish small plantings of some of the best black walnuts, hickories, Japanese walnuts, and Chinese chestnuts. I also obtained about five bushels of Chinese walnuts and one bushel of Chinese chestnuts from northwest China for testing at the experiment stations, and by other interested individuals. Owing to the length of time the nuts were in transit the majority of them were unfit for germination. A few have grown, however, and we hope to get good results from these.

A collection of nuts containing 60 plates and 21 different species was prepared and exhibited at the Royal Winter Fair at Toronto and also at the Livestock Show at Guelph. I was in attendance almost constantly at Toronto, and endeavored to give all the information possible on nut culture. Both exhibits attracted a great deal of attention and called forth favorable comments from visitors and the press.

Experimental plantings of English, Japanese, Chinese, and American walnuts, filberts and hickories, have been established at the Horticultural Experiment Station. Mr. W. J. Strong pollenated about 200 black walnut blossoms with pollen of the English walnut. Apparently a good number have set fruit.

A graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College, who has become interested in nut culture, procured 2,000 black walnut seedlings from the Forestry Station at St. Williams. These trees were budded, in August last, with local grown English walnuts, but unfortunately only a few buds took. An attempt will be made next spring to whip graft the trees that did not set buds this summer.

There is a marked increase in the interest in nut culture shown by the public during the past year. This is shown by numerous requests for information and addresses on nut growing and by the public endorsement of nut culture by three important horticultural organizations. The Ontario Horticultural Council, the Federal Horticultural Council and the Ontario Horticultural Societies Convention each passed a resolution asking the Dominion Department of Agriculture to appoint a man to investigate the possibilities of nut culture in Canada. No definite action has been taken as yet, but it is expected that an appointment will be made in the near future.

We are giving the boys and girls of Ontario an opportunity to assist us in our work by hunting for good nut trees, and as an incentive we have offered prizes of .00 each for the best specimens of our various native and introduced nut trees. This should bring results, because if there is anyone in this wide world who knows where good nuts are, it is the small boy.

The work during the past year has generally been encouraging, but like every other line of human endeavor there have been disappointments. For example, one bushel of Chinese walnuts was stolen, and a number of good specimens of other kinds mysteriously disappeared from my exhibition collection.

Another disappointing feature has been the apathy, and even hostility, shown by some officials. I do not intend, however, to let these difficulties discourage me in the least, but plan to carry on and preach the gospel of beauty and utility as exemplified in our best nut trees.

ADDRESS BY DR. L. C. CORBETT

U. S. Department of Agriculture

The work in nut culture by the Department of Agriculture antedates the present Bureau of Plant Industry, and to confine the history of the work to the present Bureau of Plant Industry would not quite do the subject justice.

From the time of the beginning of fruit work in the Department of Agriculture, in 1885, nuts have received more or less attention. After the formation of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in 1901, special appropriations were received from Congress for the support of nut investigations, and individuals were appointed to that service in the department. Mr. C. A. Reed, whom you all know very well, was the first appointee of this service, devoting his whole time and attention to the work. He has been with the department for several years, and has given his time exclusively to the nut problems of the country. Naturally, the nut problems are not confined to any geographic area, but are nation-wide; but certain of the plants which have entered into the problems of nut culture have demanded more attention than others, for reasons that are the same as in fruit culture. The older fruits, those better known and longer in cultivation, whose problems are better understood, require less attention from the grower and from the experimenter than do the newer ones in the field.

Nut culture in America, as I understand it, not being a nut culturist myself, consists of two types of projects. We have one type that has long been practiced by man, that we imported from European countries and established on this continent. People have cultivated these nuts more or less intensively for generations, and many of the problems have been worked out, so far as Europe is concerned. Of course, when introduced in America, new problems confronted the growers here. The other type of nut industry is based upon indigenous nuts of which we know little, either from the orchard standpoint or as to the varieties concerned. Our native nuts, particularly the pecan, have forced themselves upon the attention of investigators of the department to much greater extent, perhaps, than any other nut with which we have to deal. Being a native, indigenous plant, not yet under cultivation, there is immediately presented the problem of the choice of varieties, adaption to changed conditions, and all of the problems arising in connection with a rapidly developing commercial industry; certain enthusiasts soon become enamored with the possibilities in the southern parts of the United States for pecan culture, and they immediately transplant it into new and untried regions, and as a result their problems have become legion.

The work of the Department of Agriculture in nut culture has developed really around the growing industries of the country; primarily, around the pecan, and secondly, around the almond and the walnut, for these are the more important, commercially. Naturally, the most pressing problems arise in connection with growing industries; they have growing pains which have to be eased the same as with small boys.

The Department of Agriculture has therefore found itself in the position of seeking answers to numerous questions which have been made in connection with these developing industries. I believe that we have contributed very materially to the knowledge of varieties, particularly as regards their adaptation to different geographic locations. We have also assisted the industries to solve some of their problems of cultivation, particularly of propagation, and also the problems growing out of the maintenance of soil fertility. With a new crop, in a new environment, it is always a problem to know how to manage the soil, and this is one of the leading lines of activity in the field, at the present time. In the Bureau of Plant Industry, two offices, that of Horticulture and Pomology and that of Soil Fertility, are co-operating in the solution of the soil fertility problems in the pecan regions.

Of course, as the industry developed and became established, the natural enemies of the pecan and of the other nut trees asserted themselves, as a result of which there have been set up investigations in the Bureau of Plant Industry to study the life histories of the various fungi that attack pecans; and outside of the Bureau of Plant Industry, the Bureau of Entomology has been devoting time to the study of the control of insect enemies. So that, at the present, the department is so organized that three or four important lines of attack are being made upon problems of these industries. Thus, while at the beginning of the Bureau of Plant Industry, in 1901, there was no single, individual person devoting his time and attention to the problems of nut culture, at present there are quite a group of individuals giving their whole time. I feel we are making progress in the work, and while we may be lagging very much behind what we should like to do, we are assisting as best we can, and are at least keeping in sight of the industry, as it goes forward.

I will not try to go into details about the work we are carrying on, because it is better to tell of what we have accomplished than to tell what we hope to do. We have a man on the Pacific Coast giving his whole time and attention to the study of breeding and of the cultural problems of almonds. Besides this, we have two men giving all of their time to pecans; and during the last year, there has been established near Albany, Georgia, a station devoted to the cultural problems of pecans. One gentleman is continuously on the ground with the work, and two others devote more or less of their time to it.

Now, while these problems connected with the industries are the ones occupying most attention, the workers in the Department of Agriculture have not been unmindful of other native nut-bearing plants, such as the native black walnuts, the hickories and the chestnut up to the time of the very destructive attack of blight. The chestnut, however, has not passed out of our sphere of activity, because at the present time, , the Chinese forms, which are much more resistant to blight, bid fair to give us a progeny to make it possible for us also to have a chestnut industry from the horticultural standpoint.

Probably the day of timber supply from our native chestnut is at an end. We hope not, but it looks that way at the present time. The possibilities of growing trees from China, the mollissima, or hybrids of them, bids fair to place the chestnut industry so that we can contend with the blight. We probably will not have immune varieties, but those which are able to live with the blight. That, it seems to me, is a very important consideration, because chestnuts have always been an important nut in our eastern markets, and are important in the European markets as well. While the larger forms of southern Europe will probably not be of value to us here, if we can establish a nut industry with nuts of fair quality, as large as our native sweet chestnuts, based on the Chinese species, the mollissima, then we will be making progress. You may see some of these trees at Bell Station which are eight or ten years old; they are bearing quite abundantly, and some of the chestnuts are really very palatable and of satisfactory size.

In addition to this breeding work with chestnuts, there is under way intensive breeding work with almonds which has for its object the development of those more hardy than those now in cultivation in California. This almond industry, though large, is handicapped because of the late frost injury, and it is desirable to get those which will bloom later and withstand lower temperatures.

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