igi6 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 13 



The English Walnut Culture in the Pacific Northwest 



THE English or Persian Walnut is 

 a thrifty, fine-growing tree with 

 clean light-gray body, synniietrical 

 head and dark-green foliage, and under 

 favoiable soil and climatic conditions 

 attains great size and long life. While 

 being decidedly- ornamental and tilling 

 the requirements for a first-class shade 

 tree, it is planted chiefly for its valu- 

 able nuts, and, where it succeeds well, 

 its culture should take a prominent 

 place among the industries of the coun- 

 try. English Walnuts are a nutritious 

 and wholsesome food, and while for- 

 merly used mainly for dessert and con- 

 fectionery purposes, they are now fast 

 coming in favor as a regular article 

 of diet and more used in many sub- 

 stantial table preimrations. They may 

 also be converted into a valuable oil 

 used both as a food and a medicine, 

 and innnature walnuts, when tender 

 and entirely free from woodiness, may 

 be used for pickles, catsups, etc. By 

 reason of the many uses of walnuts 

 their consumption in the I'nited States 

 has increased more rapidh than the 

 production, and with the present heavy 

 importations there is but little danger 

 of overproduction for some time to 

 come. We are just at the beginning of 

 successful walnut culture in the North- 

 west; some progress has been made, 

 but there is much yet to learn. How- 

 ever, enough has been done to prove 

 beyond a doubt that walnut growing 

 here ofl'ers great opportunities for the 

 future. With thousands of acres of 

 land with soil and climatic conditions 

 suitable for walnut growing, we cer- 

 tainly should produce not only all the 

 nuts consumed at home, but large cjuan- 

 tities to ship to other less-favored lo- 

 calities as well. 



While experience has shown that 

 under jjroper conditions the walnut 

 will grow and bear in the Northwest 

 so as to justify its planting, it must be 

 remembered that walnuts cannot be set 

 out anywhere and of any variety with 

 assurance of success. Thousands of 

 dollars have undoubtely already been 

 wrongfulh expended in walnut plant- 

 ing on the northern Pacific Coast, re- 

 sulting in ni;niy failures and disai)- 

 pointmenls which could have been 

 avoided by careful and intelligent se- 

 lection of lands and varieties for plant- 

 ing. The first and most vital requisite 

 for success in walnut growing is land 

 with the proper soil and exi)osure; 

 then the selection of good blight-resist- 

 ant varieties well suited to the localitx', 

 and, lastlv, good care. Walnuts re(iuire 

 deej), rich soil, the decjier and richer 

 the better; in other words, they reciuirc 

 soils well supplied with plant food and 

 plenty depth to retain the necessary 

 moisture during the dry season, yet, at 

 the s;nne lime, well drained and free 

 from standing water. Walnut trees 

 cannot resist sour, seepy soils, nor can 

 the> he expecle<l to do much or resist 

 the blight successfully on coarse, 

 sandy, shallow and pooily-watered 



By A. A. Quarnberg, Vancouver, Washington 



lands without plenty of fertilizers and 

 irrigation. Furthermore, the success 

 of walnuts jjlanted in a frosty locality, 

 even with good soil, is very doubtfid. 

 Without good care of the trees the 

 planter is surely doomed to disap- 

 pointment. 



There are mainly two distinct strains 

 of walnuts grown on the Pacific Coast, 

 the Santa Barbara Soft Shell types and 

 the Flench varieties. The Santa Bar- 

 bara types, while being vigorous and 

 strong growers, bud out early in the 

 spring, are liable to injury by spring 

 frosts and blight, and, generally speak- 

 ing, do not succeed well in the North- 

 west. But the F^rench varieties, which 

 begin their activities later in the sea- 

 son, have shown themselves well suited 

 to the country's condition, and have 

 practically demonstrated the possibili- 

 ties of commercial walnut growing in 

 the Pacific Northwest. 



Grafted trees bearing high-grade nuts 

 are to be preferred for i)lanting on 

 account of the uniformity of the prod- 

 uct. While there are some fine and 

 valuable second - generation seedling 

 frees, these seedlings have not proven 

 entirely satisfactory, as they are some- 

 times found to vary in growth and pro- 

 ductiveness and their nuts often differ 



in size, shape and fiavor. If seedlings 

 are planted they should be propagated 

 from nuts carefully selected in every 

 respect. Grafted trees should have 

 select stock, not only for the top but 

 for the root as well, for- upon the root 

 depends in a large measure the life and 

 value of a tree. Good results have been 

 obtamed from grafts on Northern Cali- 

 fornian black, and Eastern black-wal- 

 nut roots, as well as from strong roots 

 of the F'nglish varieties and certain 

 hybrids; but, while it cannot be ex- 

 |)ected that any one root will be the 

 best under all conditions, the Northern 

 California black is now cjuite generally 

 considered to be one of the best aver- 

 age root stock for English walnut trees 

 in the Northwest. 



The connnercial value of a walnut 

 tree depends upon its growth and ])ro- 

 ductiveness and the size, shape, color, 

 smoothness, sealing and self-hulling 

 (piality of the nut and flavor, size, 

 plumpness and color of the kernel. 

 The old French varieties such as Fran- 

 quette, Parisienne, Ma>ette, Meylan and 

 others, possessing in a high degree the 

 qualities which make good commercial 

 nuts, at present are, and will probably 

 continue to be, the standard selection 

 for planting in the Northwest unless 



Flr.URB .^8 — An old Italian prune tree thai loin- years aRii was pailially 



••deliorni'd." Niilc tliai Itic treatnicnl apiiarciitly liaii titlii- inniu-ni-<- iiijoil 



tile vigor of the smalt rTiiitinK Inanelies and iiid i\ iiliiat t'riiil spurs of tlie 



limb not ent !)aeU 



