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REPORT ON THE RESULTS OF THE WALNUT SURVEY 

 CONDUCTED BY THE MINISTRY OE AGRICUL- 

 TURE AND FISHERIES IN ENGLAND AND 

 WALES IN 1924 AND 1925 



Forwarded by Howard Spence, Vice-President for England 



Though single walnut trees are common in all parts of England and 

 Wales, walnuts are not grown on a commercial scale in this country, 

 and the total home crop is quite insufficient to supply the home mar- 

 kets which are in consequence dependent on imported supplies. More- 

 over, many of our walnut trees produce nuts of poor quality, a fact 

 which is not surprising when it is remembered that most of the trees 

 growing in this country have been raised from nuts and are in effect 

 seedlings from parents known or unknown. In other countries, it has 

 been found possible to improve the walnut industry by working scions 

 taken from proved trees on to known stocks, and thus by vegetative 

 means to raise a number of trees which are known in advance to pro- 

 duce superior quality nuts. It cannot be claimed that the same 

 method of procedure would hold good for this country, nor is it known 

 whether the right kinds of stocks for Great Britain are in existence.* 



In these circumstances, the Ministry decided in 1924 to make an 

 enquiry into the general character of the walnuts grown in this country 

 in order to obtain a closer knowledge of existing types and to ascer- 

 tain the location of the best existing varieties with a view to their sub- 

 sequent vegetative propagation and wider distribution. Through the 

 medium of County Horticultural Officers, Inspectors of the Ministry, 

 and otherwise, samples of matured nuts were collected from many parts 

 of the country during 1924 and again during 1925 and were critically 

 examined by Mr. Howard Spence of Ainsdale, Southport, who very 

 kindly offered his services to the Ministry in this connection. The 

 following salient points from Mr. Spence's reports will, it is ho])ed, 

 be of interest. 



Samples of nuts from the 1924 crop of some 160 trees were ex- 

 amined by Mr. Spence. The weather of that season, characterized by 

 *(With this I do not agree. — H. S.) 



