472 ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE Off. Doo 



Most of my grafting has been with suckers, but if you want to 

 start nuts, I would recommend that you do it yourself rather than 

 to buy nursery trees that generally die. A nice way is to take 

 the native sweet chestnut and start it in flower pots, and the Eng- 

 lish walnut in nail kegs. Nut trees have tap roots which make them 

 difficult to transplant, but by putting them in pots or kegs you can 

 control that root. Besides you can set your pots or kegs in the gar- 

 den in some convenient place to watch and protect them the first 

 year. Then set them in their permanent home. If you want to 

 raise nuts, better take the American rather than the Japanese nuts. 

 One troublesome disease is the red spider. For years we called it 

 rust, but the rust is only the appearance caused by the red spider. 

 The new fungus disease is not so severe on the Japanese nut, nor 

 is the red spider. 



MR. ELDON: Are English walnuts hardy here? 



MR. ROBERTS: Yes, on northern slopes and north side of build- 

 ings. When We planted them in our fields, they generally died, but 

 when planted the other way, shielded a little from the sun, they 

 live and do well. There is no reason why a farmyard shouldn't 

 have a reasonable supply of nuts, shellbarks, chestnuts, and wal- 

 nuts. It makes a great difference to the attractiveness of the farm. 

 My father was very much interested in these things and after he 

 left the farm he never came out to see me without going to see how 

 the grafts were getting along. It is worth a whole lot more than 

 the mere dollars and cents you get out of it. Why not plant nut 

 trees along your roadsides. They do better than fruit trees will 

 in places like that. If some of your neighbors do get a few, it won't 

 hurt them. I never heard of anyone dying from eating of my nuts. 



MR. ELDON: Do you graft the English walnuts on native black 

 walnuts? 



MR. ROBERTS: That could be done. I have never done it, but 

 have often seen trees so treated. After a person gets to grafting 

 they get interested in doing a lot of such things. I have grafted 

 chestnuts on chestnut oaks. 



CHESTER TYSON: Did I understand you to prefer the Japanese 

 chestnut seedlings upon which to graft? 



MR. ROBERTS: No, I prefer the American stock. 



We are not masters of the business. We don't know how to keep 

 our nuts. We must sell them at once, or they dry out too much. 

 The Italians seem to know how to do it, and send them to this 

 country by the ship loads, always in perfect condition. 



MR. COX: Can't you get any information from them? 



MR. ROBERTS: We will, but somehow we seem to learn slowly. 

 There seems to be no one in this country yet who can cure their 

 nuts like the Italians. Chestnut culture is a very important indus- 

 try in Italy, and the nuts form a staple article of food for the peo- 

 ple as well as their domestic animals. As yet they are much beyond 

 us in the business. 



MR. CUSHMAN: How would a bath of silicate of soda answer, 

 to close the pores and prevent evaporation? 



CHESTER TYSON: Do they have varieties in Italy that it might 

 be well for us to have? 



