NUT CULTURE. 



and a tin mug of tea, but perhaps it is 

 all they deserve. We saw them locked 

 in their narrow cells for the night, and 



came away glad to learn from the War- 

 den that gardeners and fruit growers 

 were not found among the convicts. 



Fio. 1041. — Kingston Penitentiary khom Portsmouth. 



NUT CULTURE. 



THERE is much encouragement to 

 plant our native nuts and some of 

 the foreign ones. As a rule, our 

 indigenous trees are good bearers, and, 

 in Mr. Van Deman's opinion, they pro- 

 duce nuts of better quality than foreign 

 ones. The Chestnut is receiving much 

 attention now, and there are a few 

 well-marked native varieties of value. 

 Although they are smaller than the Euro- 

 pean varieties, they are of better quality 

 and very productive. The best are De- 

 laney. Excelsior, Griffin, Hathaway, Mor- 

 rell and Otto. Rocky hillsides and other 

 places unsuitable for tillage can be used 

 with profit for nut trees, and they can 

 be set about buildings and in pastures. 

 The European varieties seem more pro- 

 fitable. It seems to be a rule that the 

 more pubescence the nut has the better 

 its quality. European varieties are more 

 fuzzy than the Japanese, and less so than 

 the American sorts. The most promi- 

 nent of these are the Paragon, Numbo, 

 Ridgely and Hannum. Japanese Chest- 

 nut-trees have a more dwarf habit, and 

 the nut has a bitter skin. They graft 

 quite readily on .^merican seedlings, and 

 the best varieties introduced are Alpha, 



Early Reliance, Grand and Superb. 

 Among the Hickories the best nut-tree 

 is the Pecan, a native of our southern 

 states, and the Shell-bark Hickory, com- 

 mon throughout the north-eastern states. 

 A firm in Pennsylvania ships more than 

 twenty tons of hickory nuts every year. 

 The nuts should be planted in rough 

 places four feet apart each way and thin- 

 ned as they grow. Seedlings are variable, 

 and so they must be grafted. The prin- 

 cipal varieties are Hale's, a large thin- 

 shelled sort, Leaming, Curtis, Elliott and 

 Mulford. Among the Walnuts, our na- 

 tive Butternuts may, perhaps, be im- 

 proved, but the so-called English Walnut 

 is the best of the family, although it is 

 difficult to grow as far north as New 

 York. There is no doubt that nut-trees 

 are hard to graft and to bud. Evapora- 

 tion should be prevented until the sap 

 begins to flow. When the sap starts the 

 grafts should be put in underground. 

 The scions should be cut so as to have 

 the pith all on one side, or, if necessary 

 to graft above the ground, they should 

 be covered well to prevent all evapora- 

 tion possible. — Western New York Hort. 

 Soc. 



