NUT BEARING TREES. 435 



NUT BEARING TREES 

 THAT CAN BE GROWN IN MINNESOTA. 



H. S. FAIRCHILD, ST. PAUL. 



Some years ago having- bought a farm near St. Paul and believing 

 that many kinds of trees and shrubs could be raised in our state that 

 were generallj"^ thought unsuited to our latitude, if soil, exposure 

 and other requirements of them were properly considered, I began 

 a series of experiments in this line,some of which resulted in failure, 

 but most of them in success; a brief, simple account of which, I give 

 here in the hope it may stimulate others to plant more largely of 

 nut bearing trees. 



In general terms, these can be successfully cultivated, in my judg- 

 ment, viz: butternut and black walnut (both indigenous), hickories, 

 chestnuts, pecans and beech. 



As to the first two, being native to the state and being grown by 

 many, nothing need be said further than that it is better to plant 

 the nuts where the trees will be wanted to stand and that a valley 

 soil is best suited to their nature; that fresh nuts should be planted 

 in the fall that they may freeze and the nut crack open in the spring. 

 In this way the top roots are saved, which in nursery cultivation 

 are lost. 



Of chestnuts I twice planted trees obtained at a nursery and lost 

 all. I then selected a place on the east side of a high picket fence 

 to the west of which was a rise of ground and where I had observed 

 the snow to drift to considerable depth, and planted the nuts in the 

 valley and on the hill side, sloping greatly to the north. Quite a 

 number came up and grew well; of these a few have their tips winter- 

 killed each year, but continue to grew, but give some signs of early 

 decay. There are, however, perhaps eight or ten perfectly healthy, 

 fine trees that gave me a few nuts this year and the preceding, and 

 from which I confidently expect a good crop soon. 



What will perhaps surprise you is that the pecans planted do not 

 winter-kill in the slightest degree now. The first two years they did 

 a little. I then wrapped them in cloth for two winters, and then hav- 

 ing a growth of well ripened wood I left them thereafter to their own 

 vital resources, and they have since proved as hardy as the native 

 oak. They are very slow growers, and though they are now twelve 

 years old, I shall not expect nuts for several years yet; but I have 

 no doubt of the practicability of raising pecans in Minnesota, though 

 several hundred miles north of their habitat. 



Pignuts -of the hickory family — grow in West St. Paul and else- 

 where in the state, and as pecans are of the same familj^ it raises a 

 supposition in their favor. 



I planted the small shellbark and the large swamp hickor}^ nuts, 

 both of which are growing and promise well but, singularly enough, 

 do not look as well as the pecans, though like them planted in valley 

 soil which is not wet. 



Lastly — the beech. Being an Ohioan and having pleasant (in 

 school days some unpleasant) recollections of the beech trees on 

 whose smooth bark we used to cut our sweethearts initials, and re- 



