128 A TREATISE ON NUT CULTURE. 



OAKS, HICKORIES AND WALNUTS. 

 By Joseph Meehan, in Albany Cultivator. 



It is the general belief among those not practically engaged in the raising 

 of seedlings that Acorns and Nuts must be sown in the Fall. This is but partly 

 true. It is correct to this extent, that there must be no drying out of the seeds 

 permitted; but with few exceptions those who raise seedlings as a business do 

 not sow the seeds until Spring. The exceptions are among the Oaks. There 

 are a few species which must be planted as soon as they are gathered, or within 

 a few weeks thereafter, or they decay. These sorts are White Oak, Post Oak, 

 and Chinquapin Oak. Many will have noticed the Acorns of these sorts lying 

 under the trees and pushing their roots into the damp ground. On account of 

 this habit they are always sown in the Fall very soon after they are collected. 



All other Oaks and the Hickories and Walnuts are better stored away until 

 Spring. Indeed, some of them, the Pecan nut and English Walnut, for ex- 

 ample, will rot in the ground if sown in Autumn. The most successful men 

 keep all seeds till Spring. The practice is to get the kinds together as soon as 

 they are ripe, and place them in boxes or barrels mixed with almost dry earth, 

 and keep them in some cool place till Spring. One of the most successful men 

 I know does not even mix his seeds with soil. He has an old-fashioned barn 

 cellar with earth floor, which is always slightly damp. His Acorns and Nuts 

 are placed in boxes, each sort by itself, with no soil at all with them, and there 

 they remain all winter, absorbing a little moisture instead of losing it, so that 

 when Spring comes they are as plump as they can be, and every sound one of 

 them grows. Keeping the kernels plump is about the whole secret of success- 

 ful storing. Where such damp cellars are not available, mixing with soil or 

 sand effects the same purpose. The material need be but slightly damp, just 

 enough so that the seeds mixed with it do not lose weight. 



The idea entertained by many, and which, in fact, has been advanced by 

 more than one writer, that frost is necessary to the developing of nut seeds to 

 seedlings, is not at all correct. A Hickory, Walnut and such stone seeds as 

 Peach, Plum and Cherry, do not need frost. I think the three last named are 

 the better for being in soil moderately damp all winter, but frost is not essen- 

 tial. Consideration would convince anyone that frost is not necessary, for in 

 the Southern States, where no frosts occur, these seeds sprout as freely as they 

 do here. 



Referring again to the early sprouting acorns, I have known them to have 

 been kept over in dryish soil until spring. But sowing them at that time is 

 troublesome, as they have an inch or two of root then which needs careful 

 handling. 



