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NORTHERN NUT GROWERS' PRIZE NUT CONTEST 

 By Dr. TV. C. Deming, Hartford, Conn. 



The 1926-27 prize nnt contest of the Northern Nut Growers Asso- 

 ciation, for the first time limited to one nut, the black walnut, was prob- 

 ably the greatest nut contest ever held in the history of the world. Its 

 great success in bringing in the nuts is due to the publicity given it 

 by the ingenuity of Dr. J. Russell Smith. 



The Plan Pursued 

 The procedure that was developed as the correspondence and pack- 

 ages began to come in, early in November was as follows. About half 

 of the packages were preceded by letters either announcing their 

 sending or asking how it should be done. Each one of latter was 

 answered immediately with a printed circular, accompanied by the cir- 

 cular of the association recommending the planting of black walnuts, 

 and a third circular describing the objects of the association and the 

 advantages of joining it. In addition notes were often added in answer 

 to special questions. All the letters were then marked at the top in red 

 pencil with the name of the sender and filed in alphabetical order. 

 This involved considerable labor in the verification of names and ad- 

 dresses as many were very illiterately written. 



As the packages came in they were allowed to accumulate as it was 

 found, after examining a few, that many were too green for proper 

 testing and a period of drying and curing was necessary. The accu- 

 mulation soon became alarming. The occupants of a small apartment 

 were nearly driven from home. When the testing finally began in 

 earnest the packages were opened, names and addresses again verified, 

 and the statements in the letters noted. Several nuts were then cracked 

 with a special cracker and those manifestly of no value were discarded. 

 Those worthy of further consideration were put in bags properly 

 labelled. In all cases, whether the nuts were of value or not, a notation 

 was made on the sender's letter of their characteristics and also on a 

 printed postal card which was returned to tlie sender in acknowledg- 

 ment, and often some special notation was made. A copy of this card is 

 here shown. The letters of the nuts examined were then put into a 

 separate file. 



