The Nut Culturist / A Treatise on Propogation, Planting, and Cultivation of Nut Bearing Trees and Shrubs Adapted to the Climate of the United States

Where small stocks are not at hand, the roots of large trees may be severed and the end partly lifted towards the surface, as shown in Fig. 68, and when grafted, allowed to remain in position until the following season, and then taken up entire or with roots enough to insure future growth. The same or a similar process may be practiced to propagate a choice variety of the hickory, and a mere severing of the roots will insure the production of suckers from near the severed end, as shown in Fig. 69.

In grafting isolated stocks in this way, a small or large stake should be placed by the side of each, to indicate their position, and also protect them from being trampled upon. I make this suggestion because, in my own experience, it has often proved successful with various kinds of hard-wooded trees and shrubs that failed when grafted in the spring. Here in the North it is rather difficult, as well as expensive, to protect cions set in the open ground in the fall; but in the South it is different, and a handful of almost any coarse litter would be sufficient to prevent severe freezing.

But grafting in the fall in the open ground is unnecessary, where small seedling stocks are used in the propagation of any kind of tree; in fact, nurserymen do very little grafting of this kind in spring, for they learned, by long experience, that the most economical and certain method of multiplying such trees is to take up the stocks in the fall, and then graft them indoors during the winter, having stocks and cions stored in cool cellars or pits, where they will be readily accessible when wanted. Apples, pears, quinces, grapes, and many other kinds of hardy trees, shrubs and vines are now extensively propagated by grafting during the winter months, and I do not know of any good reason why the hickories and other closely allied nut trees should not be multiplied in this way. I have tried it, on a limited scale, with the shellbark hickories, and with fair success, and in my opinion it is the only way by which the hickories, including the pecan, can be multiplied cheaply enough to become of commercial importance.

The small stocks of one or two years old should be taken up in the fall, and then crown grafted any time from December to March in the Northern States, but the earlier the better; then pack away the grafted stocks in moss or soil, in a cool cellar, or heel-in elsewhere, as, for instance, in pits or frames, where they will not be frozen, and yet cool enough to prevent active growth.

In the spring the grafted stocks should be planted out in nursery rows, and deep enough to have the top of the cion just level with the surface after the soil has been settled about it by a shower or heavy rains. The plants must be handled with care, so as not to disturb the cions. Mulching will, of course, be beneficial in dry seasons, and especially if the stocks are set in ordinary well-drained soils. In selecting wood for cions, twigs of the previous season's growth are usually preferred, but it is not necessary, nor is it advisable to discard all except the extreme end of the shoot or that containing a terminal bud, as some writers have advised, to prevent rapid loss of moisture by evaporation, for a drop of wax will seal the end of a cion as thoroughly and effectually as a natural bud; besides, the lower part of the annual twigs is often more firm and really better for grafting than the upper and less sturdy wood, and the lateral buds on it will push just as readily as the terminal one. The cion may be three or four inches long, and contain two or more buds. The sealing of the upper end of a cion that is not protected by a terminal bud is certainly important with all of the hickories, for in this genus of trees the pith is large and continuous, not intersected or cut off by a thin partition of wood at the joints, as seen in many trees, shrubs and vines. This large and continuous pith in the hickories is another reason why the cions succeed best if set below the crown and in or on the fleshy roots having no pith. They may be set on one side, as in splice grafting, or in the center, or in a cleft made for their reception with a sharp knife, then bound with waxed paper, or wrapped with bass, raffia, or other similar material, and afterwards covered with melted wax to exclude air and water from the joints and wounds.

In this mode of grafting hickories it is not necessary to employ the entire root or stock, if it is of large size, for a single cion; for pieces of from six to twelve inches long, containing a few lateral fibers, will answer the purpose, and it will be found, in practice, that these sections of the large fleshy roots contain so much vitality that, if the cions set in them fail to grow, they will throw up sprouts from adventitious buds during the ensuing summer. Almost any fair-sized piece of root left in the ground, when digging up hickory trees large or small, is pretty certain to throw up sprouts, this not only showing their great vitality, but that propagation by root cuttings is perfectly practicable and may be utilized whenever and wherever it may be desirable. The man who attempts to raise hickories from root cuttings must have patience, for very frequently the cuttings will remain apparently dormant in the ground one entire season before the sprouts appear above the surface. I will also add that this slow or retarded germination frequently occurs with the nuts, especially if they have become somewhat dry before planting.

For commercial purposes root-grafting small stock, as described, during the fall and winter, gives promise of being the best and most practicable system of multiplying varieties; but there is much yet to be learned in regard to details, and hundreds of carefully conducted experiments may be necessary to determine the exact time, condition and mode of operation. It may be that very early grafting is better than late, or that we have not, as yet, found the best species for stocks, and that a half-ripened one will be preferable to one fully matured. Neither has it, as yet, been determined what kind of material is best in which to store the grafted roots: sand, soil or sphagnum (moss) from the swamps; or whether they should be kept very moist, or comparatively dry; very cold, or moderately warm. Here is a wide field for experiments, and a most interesting one; for the successful propagation of the hickories by any mode that will insure the perpetuation and rapid multiplication of varieties, means millions of dollars added to the wealth of the country.

Age of Fruiting.—We hear much of the precociousness of pecan trees in the South, and many are reported as coming into bearing at the age of six to ten years from the time of planting the nut; but these are probably exceptional instances of early fruiting and not the rule, although in a favorable soil and climate it is to be expected that such trees will push forward more rapidly than under less favorable conditions. Grafted trees will, of course, produce fruit in less time than seedlings, and as this mode of propagation becomes more general, and repeated in a direct ancestral line, the cions for each successive generation of trees being taken from mature or bearing specimens, the precocious and productive habit will eventually become intensified, as it has been in all of our long-cultivated fruit trees propagated by artificial methods. We have so intensified the productiveness of many kinds of cultivated fruits by selection, that it has become more of a fault, than a merit to be encouraged.

The nut trees are amenable to the same physiological laws as other kinds, and in their propagation by grafting with cions from bearing specimens we hasten maturity in the offspring. This has been fully demonstrated in many varieties of the Persian walnuts and European chestnuts. Here in the Northern States we have had so little experience with grafted hickories of any species, that really nothing is yet known as to how they will respond to this mode of propagation, further than that they grow rapidly and give promise of being fruitful. Seedling trees are, as a rule, of slow growth, rarely attaining a bearing age and size under twenty years, and with the shellbarks thirty or forty years usually pass before anything like a crop of nuts is gathered. Something may be gained, in the way of time, by frequent transplantings and pruning, but more by grafting seedlings from old and mature trees. Two grafts of the Hales' hickory commenced bearing at the age of sixteen years.

Planting for Profit.—There are, doubtless, many thousands of acres of half-denuded woodlands in almost every State in the Union, both North and South, that could be readily utilized for growing hickory timber, and much of such lands is almost useless for other purposes; but timber culture and forestry is a subject which I have discussed elsewhere,[1] while the object of this work is to aid my readers in producing something that may be utilized as food. When the hundreds and thousands of miles of our public highways are shaded with hickory and other nut-bearing trees of the best species and varieties, it will be time enough to begin planting such kinds elsewhere. As roadside trees they cannot fail to be profitable, largely enhancing the value of adjoining land; for in addition to being equally as ornamental as other kinds, they yield fruit always in demand at remunerative prices. The three species of the hickory and their varieties recommended for cultivation all thrive best in moist soils, but by occasional watering or thorough mulching they will succeed almost anywhere, especially in naturally dry locations.

Insect Enemies.—The hickories, as with all other nut-bearing trees, have numerous insect enemies, but these are neither so numerous nor destructive as to seriously interfere with their growth in general, or with their productiveness. Insects may occasionally become exceedingly numerous in certain localities for a few years, then suddenly or slowly disappear; but this we must expect, as one of the coexisting phases of all agricultural pursuits.

Collectively the hickories have no considerable number of destructive insect enemies, but if we count all the species of the various orders that have been found occasionally, or otherwise, feeding on the leaves, buds, fruit, twigs, bark, or boring in the solid wood, they make a very formidable list of names, or about one hundred and seventy-five in all; but fully ninety per cent. of these depredators are scarcely known, except to a few professional entomologists, and unless they become more destructive in the future than they are at present, or have been in years past, nut culturists have little to fear from their depredations. Among the most common species of insects injurious to the hickory, the following may prove most annoying to the cultivator.

The hickory-twig girdler (Oncideres cingulatus. Say).—A small yellowish-gray beetle, a little less than an inch long, usually appearing in this latitude during August, the females depositing their eggs in the twigs of from a quarter to a half-inch in diameter. On old large trees the loss of a few or many of these is scarcely noticed; but on young seedlings or grafted stock it is quite a different affair, for on such plants the females usually select the leader in preference to the lateral twigs in which to deposit their eggs. The female girdles the twigs for the purpose of providing proper and acceptable food for her progeny; that is, first the green, then the slowly drying, then the perfectly hard, seasoned hickory or whatever kind she may have attacked. Selecting a suitable twig, she rests upon it, usually with head downward (Fig. 70), and with her mandibles cuts out a ring of bark about one-twelfth of an inch wide, and deep enough to reach the firm wood underneath. The place selected for this annular incision may be only a few inches from the terminal bud, or a foot below it, and in some instances she will cut two incisions on the same twig some distance apart, but usually there is only one on a twig. While cutting this incision she will sometimes rest long enough from her labors to deposit an egg in the bark above. The number of eggs she deposits in the twig is probably variable, but three full-grown grubs is the most I have ever found, and the larger proportion examined had only one. This girdling of the twig prevents the flow of sap, and the leaves soon wither and drop off, and the bark and wood shrivel and become hard and dry; but in the meantime the eggs have hatched and the minute grubs have bored their way through the soft bark and reached the pith, feeding in this while acquiring size and strength of jaws that will enable them to consume more solid food later and during the succeeding winter, spring and summer. Some do not reach maturity until the second summer; at least, in this latitude, as I have found after very careful observation and while collecting many hundreds of specimens. I will say, however, that this insect is usually referred to by entomologists as rather rare, and in general it is, but some years ago, in an old clearing near by where there was a great number of young hickory seedlings and sprouts, it was for a season or two very abundant; then it suddenly disappeared, and I have not taken a half-dozen specimens since. The grubs bore out the wood in the infested twig, and in most instances so completely as to leave only a thin shell of the wood or bark, by the time they have reached maturity and are ready to pass into their imago or perfect-winged stage.

This species of twig girdler also attacks the apple, pear, persimmon, elm, and other kinds of trees, and with those like the apple, with a soft and brittle wood, the girdled twigs are frequently broken off by the winds; but this rarely occurs with the hickories, and we can usually find the stumps remaining on the trees years after the beetles have emerged. The only way to keep this pest in check is to cut off and burn the girdled twigs any time before the larvæ have reached maturity, and as the girdled dead twigs are readily seen, the gathering is not difficult, from medium-sized trees.

The painted hickory borer (Cyllene pictus. Drury).—This is, perhaps, one of the most common and widely distributed of all the hickory borers, but, so far as my observations have extended, it rarely attacks young or healthy trees of any age; in fact, I have never found it in or about growing trees, but I have seen it, by the thousands, breeding in decaying specimens and in hickory cordwood cut during the winter months and ranked up in shady places. A hickory tree cut down in fall or winter, and left on the ground or cut up into cordwood, is pretty sure to attract this borer early in spring, the females swarming over the bark, depositing their eggs upon it, and by the ensuing autumn the wood will be fairly honeycombed if this insect is at all abundant. The general color of the beetle is black, and the size as shown in Fig. 71. There are three narrow, whitish bands across the top of the thorax, and one slightly broader band at the extreme point of the wing-covers; but the next band is in the form of an inverted V; the point of the Λ does not quite touch the broad lateral band, as in the closely allied species known as the locust borer (C. robiniæ), with which it is often confounded; besides, in the latter the markings are of a deep yellow, and not white or of a faint yellowish tinge. The hickory borer always appears in spring, and the locust borer in the fall, not later than September in this part of the country. Below or behind the V-shaped band there are three others, but all broken up into mere dots, and not continuous.

In the South, and especially in Texas, there is a somewhat smaller but closely allied species (Cyllene crinicornis) that attacks the pecan tree and its wood in the same way as our common hickory borer, but in the Southern or Southwestern species the bands on the wing-covers are all interrupted or broken up into small white spots or dots. I have no remedy to suggest, further than to cut down old, infested trees, and to haul the wood out into the sun and spread it out where it will quickly dry and become seasoned. If the felled tree and wood is stripped of its bark as soon as cut, the female beetles will not deposit their eggs upon it.

There are other long-horned beetles (Cerambycidæ) that are occasionally found breeding in the hickories, and among these may be named the Belted Chion (Chion cinctus), Tiger Goes (Goes tigrinus), Beautiful Goes (Goes pulchra), and the Orange Sawyer (Elaphidion inerme), but they are usually quite too rare to be considered as very destructive insects.

Hickory-bark borer (Scolytus 4-spinosus. Say).—Only once within my memory has this minute but destructive beetle appeared in any considerable numbers in my neighborhood, although I have occasionally received a few specimens from correspondents in various parts of the country, even as far west as the Pacific coast in Washington. This borer is a very small, cylindrical, dark brown beetle, about one-fifth of an inch or less in length, and one-sixteenth in diameter. The hind part of the body is quite blunt (truncate), the males having four short but distinct blunt spines, two on each side, projecting from the hind part of the abdomen, hence the name "4-spinosus." In the females these spines are absent, otherwise they closely resemble the males. These bark borers usually appear here in the Northern States the last of June or early in July, and both sexes attack hickory trees of all species, but appear to prefer the old and nearly mature trees to the young and small with thinner bark. After boring through the bark and reaching the soft cambium layer underneath, upon which these insects feed, the female cuts a vertical channel in this substance, of little over an inch in length.

This burrow is a little larger than the diameter of her body, and along on both sides she deposits her eggs, to the number of ten to thirty, placing about an equal number on each side. When these eggs hatch, the young larvæ begin to feed on the soft material by which they are surrounded, making minute burrows at first, and at nearly right angles with the parent one; but as they increase in size they are forced to diverge, those above the center working upward, and those below downward, as shown in Fig. 72. These burrows enlarge as the grubs increase in size, as shown, most of them reaching their full development by the time cold weather sets in, but some do not cease feeding until spring, then pass to the pupal stage, and later to the perfect or beetle form, and from the extreme end of these burrows they bore a hole straight out to the surface, and are then ready to begin the cycle of life again, either on the tree from which they have emerged, or others near by. Some fifteen years ago I noticed that the leaves of some of the old hickory trees on my place were turning yellow prematurely, and upon examination I found the bark perforated with minute holes not larger than small bird shot, indicating the presence of the bark borer under consideration. Seven of the very largest and, presumably, the oldest, appeared to be affected, and these were immediately cut down and stripped of their bark, exposing the little grubs to the air and attacks of insect-eating birds. These trees appeared to have been infested for several years, as there was scarcely a spot on the surface of the wood that had not been scarified with this pest. Since the destruction of these trees I have not been troubled with bark borers, although there are still a number of very old and large hickories thriving in the same grove. The only remedy I can suggest is to cut down infested trees as soon as they are discovered, and also encourage the insect-eating birds to remain in and near the nut groves.

There are several other species of bark borers that occasionally attack hickories, one of these, the Chramesus icoriæ, Leconte, infests the small twigs, while another, the Sinoxylon basilare, say, after boring through the bark, continues its course far into the heartwood, showing a preference for this kind of food instead of the living tissues. These pests, however, are rarely constant, but very erratic, in their attacks, and while they may be rather abundant on a few or many trees a season or two, they then disappear, and not one may be seen for several decades.

The hickory-shuck worm (Grapholitha caryana. Fitch).—The parent of this pest is a minute moth of the family Tortricidæ, the small caterpillars mining and boring the green husks, and sometimes into the immature shell, causing the nuts to wither and drop off prematurely, although an occasional one may reach maturity, even in its scarified condition. This insect appears to be somewhat rare in the East, but very abundant some years in the West, where it is frequently destructive to the thick shellbark hickory and pecan. The first fresh specimens of the Nussbaumer Hybrid pecan nut (referred to on a preceding page) were so badly bored and scarified by this worm when received, that they would have been nearly or quite worthless for either planting or other purposes. As this insect attacks the nuts on the very largest trees in the forest and elsewhere, I cannot suggest any other remedy than to gather the immature and infested nuts as they fall, and burn them, with their contents.

Among the larger Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) there are many species, the caterpillars of which occasionally feed on the leaves of the hickories, but not exclusively; consequently, they cannot be considered as the special enemies of this genus of trees. When they do attack them, it is as much due to accident as design. This is certainly true with the great Luna moth (Attacus luna) and the American silk worm (Telea polyphemus), and various species of the Catocala, as well as the Tent caterpillar (Clisiocampa sylvatica).

There is also a hickory-nut weevil, closely allied to the species infesting the chestnut; and while not quite as large, its habits are similar, and its ravages may be checked by the same or similar means. The grubs bore into the green nuts, causing some to fall before half-grown; others may remain in the nuts until they are ripe and gathered in the autumn; consequently, perforated hickory nuts are not at all rare, even on the stands of venders in our cities.

Bud worms, leaf miners, leaf rollers and plant lice,—and among the latter several gall-making species,—are to be found on the hickories; but with all these natural enemies to contend with, the hickories thrive, grow, and yield their fruits in greater or less abundance. To enumerate, describe and illustrate all the insects known to be enemies of the hickory would require a large volume, but fortunately there are many special works published on the insects injurious to vegetation, and these are readily obtainable by all who may have occasion to consult their pages.

CHAPTER VIII.

History.—The common walnut, so long and widely known in commerce under various names, such as Persian, English, French, Italian and European walnuts, also as Madeira nut, and recently Chile walnut, are now all believed to have descended from trees native of Persia, most plentiful in the province of Ghilan on the Caspian sea, between latitude 35° and 40°, hence the old Grecian name of the fruit, viz.: Persicon and Basilicon, or Persian Royal nut, probably because either introduced by the Greek monarchs, or sent to them by the Persian kings. Later,—according to Pliny,—the Greeks called the trees Caryon, on account of the strong scent of the foliage, and from this name Nuttall coined his word, Carya, for our indigenous hickories, as explained in the preceding chapter. It should also be noted here that the elder Michaux, in 1782-4, was the first modern botanist to visit the province of Ghilan, and he determined, by personal investigation, that this species of the walnut was really indigenous to that region of country, along with the peach and apricot.

Earlier European authors claim that the walnut was first introduced into Italy by Vitellius (emperor) early in the first century of the Christian Era,—but this is uncertain,—the Romans giving it the name of Juglandes, or the nut of Jove or Jupiter, both being the same mythical personage. The nuts, at this early day, were highly prized, and also the wood of the tree, the latter being even more valuable than that of the citron (orange and lemon). Ovid wrote a poem about these nuts, entitled De Nuce, from which we learn that boys were employed to, or did of their own accord, knock off these nuts; and that at marriages walnuts were thrown by the bride and bridegroom among the children, a ceremony which was supposed to indicate that the bridegroom had left off his boyish amusements, and that the bride was no longer a votary of Diana, and it is quite probable that the French word for nuptials, des nôces, was derived from this ancient custom. The ancients also believed that walnuts possessed powerful medicinal properties, even to the curing of hydrophobia; but in these latter days they have lost most of their curative virtues, in the opinion of the medical fraternity.

As with the chestnut, the planting of the walnut extended northward into Gaul (France), hence the earlier name of Gaul nuts, which became corrupted into walnuts by the English-speaking people. The Italian name is Noci; in France, Noyer; and the Germans, with their usual habit of compounding names, call it walnuss-baum or walnut tree.

Joannis De Loureiro, in his work on the plants of China, "Flora Cochinchinensis," published in 1790, claims that this Persian walnut is also a native of the northern provinces of China, with two other species which he describes (p. 573), adding, however, that one of these is cultivated in Cochin China, and the other is found wild in the mountains.

The wild form of this world-wide-famous nut is, doubtless, quite different from the varieties with which we are familiar, for two thousand years or more of continuous cultivation and selections have greatly changed the character of these nuts, as well as the habit of the trees. The nuts from the wild trees are said to have a rather thick shell, and to be much smaller than the best of the improved cultivated varieties, or very like those we now obtain in China and Japan. The Persian walnut, in its many varieties, has been planted almost everywhere in Europe as far north as Warsaw, but does not appear to have run wild and become naturalized, as with many other kinds of fruit and forest trees. In Great Britain it has probably been cultivated ever since the invasion of the country by the Romans, although a much later date is named by some of our modern horticultural authorities. Dodoens (1552), Gerarde (1597), Parkinson (1629), and other of our early authors of works on cultivated plants, speak of the Persian walnut as common in various countries of Europe, Great Britain included. John Evelyn, in his "Sylva" (1664), says:

"In Burgundy, walnut trees abound where they stand, in the meadows of goodly lands, at sixty and a hundred feet distance, and so far as hurting the crop, they are looked upon as great preservers, keeping the ground warm, nor do the roots hinder the plow."

Evelyn, no doubt, had read what Pliny had said on this point, viz.:

 

"Even the oak will not thrive near the walnut tree; which, if it be true, may be owing to the interference of their roots in the subsoil; but it is certain that neither grass nor field nor garden crops thrive well under the walnut."

Evelyn was far too good a gardener and close observer to fall into the error of attributing noxious properties to the walnut tree, although Pliny's assertion, which has no foundation beyond his imagination, has been many times repeated in these days of supposed general intelligence. Small plants may fail, under the shade of large trees, or when deprived of moisture by the roots of such trees, but the walnut is no exception to the rule; in fact, such deep-rooted kinds are less injurious than those with roots nearer the surface. Evelyn, in continuing his account of the walnut in Germany, says:

"Whenever they fell a tree, which is only the old, decayed, they always plant a young one near him, and, in several places betwixt Hanau and Frankfort, no young farmer whatsoever is permitted to marry a wife till he bring proof that he is a father of such a stated number of walnut trees; and the law is inviolably observed to this day, for the extraordinary benefit which this tree affords the inhabitants."

What a pity that some such custom could not have prevailed during the past century in the United States. The author from whom I have just quoted adds that the Bergstrasse, which extends from Heidelberg to Darmstadt, is all planted with walnuts.

Cold winters, however, have occasionally played havoc with the walnut trees in Europe, and one of these occurred in 1709, when the greater part of the trees were seriously injured, especially in Switzerland, Germany and France. Many trees were cut down for their timber, which is always in great demand for gun-stocks and furniture. Certain Dutch capitalists, foreseeing the scarcity of walnut timber, bought up all they could procure, and years afterwards sold it at a greatly advanced price. In the year 1720 an act was passed in France to prevent the exportation of walnut timber, and this led to the planting of these trees more extensively than at any previous date; this practice has continued to the present time, hence the immense revenue secured from the exportation of these nuts. The people of the United States are good customers for the surplus stock of Europe, and will probably so continue, until we wake up to a sense of our folly of perpetually buying articles that could be readily produced at home, and at a very large profit.

Persian Walnut in America.—The date of the first experiment in planting this nut in this country is now probably unknown, but the oldest tree that I have been able to find with anything like a satisfactory history, is still growing vigorously at Washington Heights, on Manhattan Island, near 160th street and St. Nicholas avenue. I gave a brief history of this noble monarch of its race in the American Garden for September, 1888, from which the following account is condensed:

"In 1758 Roger Morris, an English gentleman, built a spacious mansion on his estate, at what, in later years, became known as Washington Heights. His grounds were well laid out for that time, and many rare foreign trees and shrubs planted, among them several, as then called, English walnuts. Whether these trees were raised from the nuts, or plants of some size imported, is not now known. Mr. Morris may have procured the seedlings from the Prince Nursery, Flushing, L. I., for this famous garden was established in 1713, or forty-five years previous to the building of the Morris mansion and the planting of the grounds about it.

"At that period no one doubted the hardiness of the so-called English walnut in America, and as most of the nuts and trees procured for planting came from acclimated stock in Great Britain or the cooler region of Europe, success usually attended such experiments. Our pioneers and horticulturists fully expected that the trees would thrive and bear nuts in abundance, and time has shown that they were not mistaken, although we frequently see it stated at this late day, that the Persian walnut is not hardy north of the latitude of Washington, Philadelphia, or other cities south of New York.

"One hundred and thirty-eight years have rolled by since walnut trees were planted at Washington Heights, and at least one of the originals has escaped destruction and holds its head aloft, defying the tempests which frequently sweep over that elevated and exposed spot on Manhattan Island. This veritable patriarch of its race in America is a monster in size, its stem between four and five feet in diameter at the base and more than seventy-five feet high, with wide-spreading branches.

"In the summer of 1776 the Battle of Long Island was fought, and the American forces were compelled to retreat in confusion to New York, thence northward up the island; but when they reached Fort Washington, not far from the eleventh milestone on the old Albany post road, they made a stand and proceeded to entrench themselves at that place. This was in September, 1776, and General Washington took possession of the Morris mansion near by, making it his headquarters, and, as this was at the season when the walnuts had reached an edible stage, we may safely presume, from his well-known predilection for such delicacies, that he tested the quality of the Morris walnuts. One hundred and twenty years later I am writing this, with some fresh specimens of nuts before me from that same old tree.

"This old patriarch has cast its shade over many a noted person in its time, for in 1810 the Morris estate passed into the hands of Madame Jumel, a lady long famous for her hospitality and the good cheer she extended to the surviving patriots of the Revolution. From 1810 to the time of her death, 1865, Madame Jumel's household always had an abundance of walnuts from the old tree, and one of the workmen on the place informed me that about two cartloads was considered a fair annual crop."

It cannot be many years before this old tree will meet the same fate that has overtaken many of its younger contemporaries which were once growing in the neighborhood, for with the rush for building lots and the opening of new streets and avenues, trees are usually in the way, and in such cases even patriarchs are not sacred, nor do they command much respect from our urban population.[2]

A half-century ago there was quite a large number of walnut trees scattered about on the northern half of Manhattan Island, many of these probably descendants of the old Morris trees, but of this nothing definite is now known. A number of persons whose ages permitted them to scan the early days of the present century, have assured me that in their childhood they had often collected walnuts from goodly sized trees on farms, from Harlem northward on the island. The largest number of Persian walnut trees planted in any one place was on the Tieman farm at Manhattanville, these being set out as roadside trees, some of which are still standing, although in the march of improvements they must soon disappear. These trees have always been noted for their productiveness, bearing a full crop every alternate year, and a lighter one in what is termed the "off season."

While the old Morris walnut tree, and the large number growing on the Tieman estate, and scores of others scattered about New York city and its suburbs,

have been, and many still are, living witnesses of the fact that varieties of the Persian walnut will thrive in this latitude, certain horticultural authors and essayists have continually asserted the contrary.

Mr. F. J. Scott, in his superb and voluminous work, "Suburban Home Grounds," in speaking of this species of the walnut, says, p. 351:

"Though greatly valued in England and on the continent for its beauty, as well as for its nuts, its want of hardiness in the Northern States, and lack of any peculiar beauty in the South, has prevented its culture to any great extent in this country. South of Philadelphia it may be grown with safety."

This seems strange language to have come from such an eminent authority as the late Mr. Scott, inasmuch as he must have passed a hundred times within sight, if not in the very shadow of the rows of old walnut trees growing at Manhattanville, when going from New York city to Newburgh, where he studied landscape gardening under the lamented A. J. Downing, and to whom the work from which I have quoted is dedicated. It is quite evident, however, that our author, like many others, failed to see things that should have interested him.

As an offset to Mr. Scott's idea of the northern limit for the successful cultivation of this nut, I may refer to the work of Mr. George Jacques, "Practical Treatise on Fruit Trees, Adapted to the Interior of New England," published at Worcester, Mass., 1849. In referring to the European walnut, p. 238, he says:

"It is perfectly hardy on Long Island, and to the south of New York, and as far north as the city of Charlestown in this State (Mass.), where there may be seen, in the enclosure of a residence on Harvard street, two fine trees of this kind, either of them much taller and larger than our large-sized apple trees. We have eaten nuts from these trees well ripened and fully equal to any of those imported. The trees often bear a crop of some bushels."

It is unnecessary to search for further proof to show that certain excellent varieties of the Persian walnut do thrive and bear abundantly in our Northern States; not, perhaps, in the extreme boreal borders of New England, nor in those of the northwest, but the acclimated sorts are pretty safe as far north as 42° of latitude, and in protected locations may crowd up a half degree more. I have found very productive trees of this nut in northern New Jersey, several in Bergen county, others in Passaic, and thence southward, and while they are few in number, they are sufficient to prove that this tree is adapted to the soil and climate of the entire State. We seldom find more than one or two trees in any garden, and these are probably more the result of accident than design, their owners seeming to be satisfied in possessing something in the way of a tree not common in the neighborhood, never thinking that it might be well to plant enough of such trees to have them become a source of revenue. The parentage of quite a number of these bearing trees is readily traced to the Morris and Tieman stock, showing that these old trees are of a hardy and prolific race, which are well worthy of perpetuation for cold climates. Very old and large walnut trees are reported as growing in Pennsylvania and other of the Middle States, but they are far from being numerous. It has long been claimed that this species of nut succeeded best in the Southern States, and it is probably true, especially with the tender varieties; but for some reason, unknown to me, they have not been planted there in sufficient numbers to have, as yet, become of any commercial importance.

During the past twenty-five years these nuts have been more extensively planted in California than elsewhere in the United States, and we may expect soon to know something definite in regard to results. Nearly all of the favorite French varieties have been introduced, and are now being tested in different parts of the State, and it is quite likely that the greater part will succeed, although some of the early-blooming sorts may fail in localities subject to late spring frosts. Previous to the introduction of grafted trees of the named varieties, the only trees of this kind planted in California were seedlings raised from the common imported nuts; but I have no statistics at hand to determine the date of the first plantings of this kind.

Of late years there has been received, at some of our seaports, and especially at New York, some quite large consignments of walnuts from South America, under the name of "Chile walnuts," but they are only varieties of the Persian raised in Chile. They are generally of good size, moderately thin shelled, with plump kernels of excellent flavor. They are in great demand for confectionery, and are really better for such purposes than the larger and fancy bleached walnuts imported under the somewhat general name of Grenobles, or French walnuts. Owing to the difference of climate, these Chile walnuts arrive here late in winter, or about the time those coming from European countries the previous autumn begin to become somewhat stale.

Of our native species of this genus (Juglans), the almost everywhere common butternut ranks first in flavor and general estimation, but owing to its hard, rough shell, and the difficulty in extracting the kernel, it has never become of any considerable importance, although usually found in our markets in limited quantities. Of course, it is a general favorite in the country, and wherever found in sufficient quantities the boys and girls lay up a goodly supply for winter use; and cracking butternuts during the long winter evenings is a pastime and pleasure not to be ignored nor forgotten. The flavor of the butternut is far more delicate, and better, than any of the Persian species, but the difficulty in extracting the rather small kernel is a serious objection.

The black walnut has a larger kernel, in proportion to its size, than the butternut, and it is not so difficult to extract when the nuts are dry, but the flavor is too rank for most palates, although it has often been referred to as excellent by the earlier botanists who visited this country; but it has never been considered of much value until quite recently, or since the manufacturers of confectionery discovered that heat somewhat subdued the rank flavor, and now many tons of the meats are annually consumed in candies and walnut cakes. I am credibly informed that cracking black walnuts and shipping the meats to our larger cities has become quite an extensive industry in several of the Middle and Western States. We have two other but smaller native species of the walnut that will be described further on, under the head Species and Varieties.

Propagation of Walnuts.—The propagation of the walnut in the natural way, or by seed, is exceedingly simple, for the nuts grow readily and freely if planted soon after they are ripe, or any time before they become old and the kernels shriveled. It is, of course, best to plant them while fresh, but they are not at all delicate, and may be transported a long distance in a dry condition without seriously affecting their vitality. If walnuts are given the same care as recommended in the preceding pages for other kinds of nuts, so much the better.