THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 495 



undesirable quality and should be guarded against in choosing the 

 variety and to formulate an idea of what will constitute an ideal walnut. 



The most important qualification in a variety from a strictly com- 

 mercial standpoint is that it should be a uniformly large producer of 

 nuts. The majority of the nuts should not pass through a one and 

 three sixteenths inch square mesh, should be well sealed, even though 

 hard shelled, and should be uniformly well filled with meat of light 

 yellowish brown color or not darker than light brown or amber. For a 

 fancy trade the nut should be of an attractive uniform shape and color 

 with a fairly smooth surface and particularly high quality with agree- 

 ably flavored meat and no bitterness. 



The next important consideration is the choosing of a variety that is 

 resistant to blight, this being a bacterial disease which affects the 

 young growth w^hen it first puts out and requires for its development 

 moist weather conditions. It is not very prevalent in Northern and 

 Central California on account of the drier atmosphere, but under the 

 same conditions some varieties are more blight-resisting than others, 

 probably due to their vigor. As a rule the late blooming varieties are 

 free from blight as they come into bloom at the time when the blight 

 can make little headway, while the earlier varieties blossom at a favor- 

 able period for its development. Certain varieties are spoken of as 

 being immune to the blight, but while there is no such thing among 

 walnuts as absolute immunity when conditions are favorable for the 

 development of blight, yet some trees do show quite a marked resistance 

 and should be given precedence on this account. 



While there are many seedlings of promise scattered throughout the 

 state, both of the Santa Barbara soft shell type and the French varieties, 

 I will only consider the prominent varieties that have been thoroughly 

 tested. 



Santa Barbara Soft Shell. 



The Santa Barbara Soft Shell was originated by Mr. Joseph Sexton 

 of Santa Barbara. It is a seedling grown from a sack of nuts which 

 probably came from Chile. This is the prevailing type of seedling 

 walnuts of Southern California. The nuts vary in size and are irregu- 

 larly shaped. The trees come out early in the spring, and have a 

 growth of six to eight inches by March 20th. They vary in their bear- 

 ing qualities, are very susceptible to blight and are not very desirable 

 for this reason and because of irregular bearing. 



Santa Rosa. 



The Santa Rosa is a chance seedling introduced by Luther Burbank 

 at Santa Rosa. The tree is a very thrifty grower and very precocious, 

 but the nuts are small on old trees and susceptible to blight, consequently 

 not very desirable. 



Placentia. 



The Placentia, which originated in Placentia, near Fullerton, was 

 extensively propagated by Mr. J. B. Neff of Anaheim, California. It 

 was a seedling of the Santa Barbara soft shell tj'pe. The nut is of 



