51 



THE DESIRABILITY OF THE CHESAPEAKE PENINSULA 



FOR NUT GROWING 



By Ernest Hemming, Easton, Maryland 



It gives me great pleasure to speak to you here because I like to 

 think that you are somewhat in the same relative position as I was my- 

 self some years ago, and that is looking for a locality where you could 

 grow a particular plant to the very best advantage, where everything 

 was working for you. The particular plant that I was interested in 

 was boxwood. Now the boxwood grows as far north as Connecticut 

 and as far south as North Carolina, and west as far as Kentucky. In 

 that large area I figured there was some particular place that was better 

 adapted than all others for growing it. I was working at the time 

 with the nurseries in Pennsylvania. That was at the time when there 

 were millions of dollars worth imported into the United States, and 

 when the embargo came against the importation of plants I could not 

 see why we could not grow this box in a domestic way to take the 

 place of what was being imported. 



I decided from evidence in the old gardens on the Eastern Shore 

 that this was the right location to make a start for that purpose. Some 

 nurserymen argued that you could do it just as well in Pennsylvania 

 and other places, but it did not seem to me that that was true. While 

 boxwood is hardy and will grow over a big area, in a young state the 

 plants are tender. If you can bring' them over the first one or two 

 years they become more hardy. I was putting practically all I had 

 into the business, as well as my labor, and I wanted to be quite sure to 

 have everything working for me. We started the Canterbury Nurseries 

 about five years ago, and I will let you judge for yourself what measure 

 of success we have had. 



If you will use the word walnut, and especially English walnut, you 

 will see what I mean by the same relative position. 



If you are looking for a location in which to grow English walnuts 

 to make a profitable crop you ought to have everything working in your 

 favor — suitable climate, soil, cheap land and everything that will insure 

 success. I do not wish to take issue with you over any particular state, 



