57 



THE NUT FLORA OF CANADA 



/. A. Neilson, Ontario Agr. College, Guelph. 



During the past four years the writer has been devoting a limited 

 ;i mount of time to a study of the occurrence and distribution of the 

 native and exotic species of nut trees in Canada. As a result of these 

 studies some interesting data have been obtained which show that the 

 nut bearing flora of Canada is a fairly comprehensive one for a 

 country of northern latitudes. By way of explanation I would like 

 to say that a very small amount of my time is available for nut tree 

 survey work in only one province, and consequently much remains 

 to be done before complete data are available. Furthermore, it should 

 not be forgotten that Canada is an immense country and that it takes 

 a long time to make a study of any one branch of plant life. 



The major part of the data presented in this paper today was 

 read at the Rochester (1922) meeting of the Northern Nut Growers' 

 Association, and, therefore, those who were present at that meeting 

 will not likely get much new information. Our audience today, how- 

 ever, is composed mainly of people who may not be familiar with 

 Canada, and therefore it gives me pleasure to present to the people 

 of this meeting some facts relative to the nut bearing flora of my 

 native land, and to tell you something of the progress of Canada's 

 newest branch of horticulture. 



Geographical Distribution of Nut Trees in Canada 



The chief native nut trees are the black walnut, butternut, (white 

 walnut), hickory, chestnut, beech and hazel. Of introduced nut trees, 

 tliere are Persian, Japanese, Manchurian, and Chinese walnuts, Euro- 

 pean, Japanese and Chinese chestnuts, pecans, almonds, filberts, tree 

 hazels and the ginkgo. 



For convenience these various species will be discussed in groups 

 ratlier than as native and introduced trees. The data relative to the 

 distribution of the species described in this paper is based on informa- 

 tion obtained through correspondence, personal observation and the 



