538 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



inj? sure that onr departed friend, Casper Hiller, might have a Per- 

 sian to his memory. I found two large trees here, but not prolific 

 enough to be of any value. I stated at this place the object of my pur- 

 suit. I was directed about one-fourth mile farther westward to 

 a somewhat secluded place, where I found two large trees that 

 were as prolific as my own. I still continued my search for more 

 Persians and at last I came upon another tree that was a perfect 

 beauty for productiveness. Having a long and intimate acquaint- 

 ance with the owner I asked the question. Why this tree was so pro- 

 lific and the other three trees so shy? As no reason could be given, 

 the verdict was "only by chance." With this investigation I found 

 that only about four per cent, of all the Persian Walnut trees I 

 saAv are worthy of propagation. 



Several years ago I tried to raise seedlings from my trees, but dis- 

 covered very soon in the early life of these young trees that they 

 were tainted with foreign blood. The leaves of these little Persians 

 were serrated *or tooth-edged, and were nine and eleven in number, 

 and on rubbing the leaves in my hand they would throw off a Black 

 Walnut odor, whereas the parent shows five and seven leaflets with 

 a smooth edge and on rubbing through the hand would transmit a 

 very sweet odor. So by propagating with seed we only perpetuate thr 

 specie and not the variety. The only remedy then, is to resort to 

 grafting or breeding of prolific trees to insure success. 



The art of grafting and budding the Persian Walnut in this lo- 

 cality is somewhat unknown to our enterprising propagators. Tt 

 is, however, very successfully performed in other localities where 

 special efforts are made in that direction. 



In 1895 I bought a small order of trees from New Jersey, among 

 them were three Japan Walnut and one Persian, the variety cata- 

 logued as the Kahasi, noted for its early and prolific bearing. Last 

 summer T found to mv surprise this Kahasi well loaded with pistil- 

 late bloom sparkling in the sunlight like diamonds, and no stamin- 

 ate in sight, so of course something had to be done to assist the tree 

 to develop its fruit. I went on my farm not far away and got about 

 a dozen and a half of good staminate twigs, and put them in a dozen 

 bottles with water in order to keep fresh. These bottles were then 

 hung promiscuously over the tree in order that the pollen miffht have 

 free access to the proper fertilization of the Distillates. Now the 

 result; last fall T managed to harvest 200 well developed meaty nuts 

 for the little assistance rendered in Nature Study. 



When the United States Department of Agriculture introduced 

 nut culture in the United States, no mention was made of the Per- 

 sian Walnut on the Atlantic coast, all information on the subject 

 having come- from the Pacific coast. If we exert ourselves as they 

 do, I am sure we can attain the same results, and have the benefits 

 of the Atlantic coast market with very little expense. I look upon 

 the introduction of the Japan Walnut the next thing to insult. As 

 soon as I had the first fruit, I introduced the American axe (not 

 the missionary) to its roots and converted them to firewood. Even 

 our American Butternut is far superior and the Black Walnut still 

 more so. The Persian Walnut tree is very beautiful with its clean 

 white bark, shaded with jrreen, glassv leaves during summer-timft, 

 and when autumn approaches it is a pleasure to see the hull crack- 

 ing open showing what is inside, smiling all the while until gather- 

 ing time. Believe me, there is nothing that I delight more than to 



