A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 127 



Happily, the Walnut does not absolutely need grafting, as for all practical 

 purposes the nuts very fairly reproduce themselves. 



SANTA ROSA SOFTSHEI,!,. Many Walnut planters in this region were 

 greatly delighted a few years ago to see their trees, only four or five years of 

 age, bearing heavy crops of superb, large, thin-shelled Walnuts. They sup- 

 posed they had the only trees of a wonderful new kind, but by comparing notes, 

 they were all traced back to one lot of nuts from a superior tree, planted in 

 nursery by the writer in 1885. By general consent, it has been called the Santa 

 Rosa Softshell. 



The culture of the Walnut offers the strongest inducement to planters. 

 Few trees are required per acre, and constant pruning, thinning and spraying 

 are not necessary. The improved varieties bear as early and more certain than 

 prunes, and require less capital and attention. The crop is handled after the 

 main rush of fruit harvest is over, when labor is plentiful and cheap, and, best 

 of all, the Walnut grower is not a slave, for he can hold his crop when prices 

 do not suit him. 



HINTS ON PLANTING. In planting Walnuts, select deep, loamy, sandy 

 soil. The trees will not do their best unless the roots can go down several feet 

 without meeting hardpan or other impervious obstructions. The deeper the 

 soil the better. The trees will not need irrigation in Sonoma count} , as they 

 generally do in the South, as the meats here always fill out full and sweet, with 

 a thin, attractive, white pelliole, without any artificial aid. 



If you are unable to obtain young trees of the variety you desire, get the 

 nuts you wish to reproduce and plant them yourself in March or April, one and 

 a half or two inches deep on any light, rich, well-drained soil, in rows four or 

 five feet apart, and one or two feet apart in the rows. Cultivate well for one, 

 two or three years, then remove carefully and plant forty or fifty feet apart 

 each way. Set the trees down as deep as they grow in the nursery. 



The after culture is the same as with fruit trees, but very little pruning is 

 necessary. At eight to twelve years of age, if all goes well, an annual crop of 

 eight hundred to one thousand pounds per acre may reasonably be expected. 



OTHER NUTS. The Softshell Japan Walnut grows rapidly here, and yields 

 surprising annual crops of most delicious nuts. They are at present very 

 scarce and almost unobtainable at any price, having been lately discovered and 

 introduced. 



Among other nuts that may be profitably planted here are Butternuts, 

 Pecans, Japanese Mammoth, Spanish and Chinese Chestnuts, as well as the 

 native Golden Chestnuts, excellent also for ornament and shade. Others 

 worthy of attention are Improved Almonds, Japanese Butternuts, Japanese Oak 

 Nuts, Beechnuts, Filberts, Pistachios, and the various Hickory Nuts. 



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