NUT-CULTUKE 



NUT -CULTURE 



1099 



pected that California will, within a few years, produce 

 all that our home murkt-ts rt-quire. 



Propagation and Ti / hi gf. — Tim larger nuiuberof bear- 

 ing trees are seedlings, but those grafted or budded 

 wiib choice varieties are far preferable, and such trees 

 ■will form the walnut orchards of the future. The dis- 

 tance for the trees to stand apart in the orchard is from 

 25 to 50 feet, according to the vigor of the variety and the 

 richness of the soil. Clean tillage is best for the trees 

 until they reach bearing age, when the ground may be 

 seeded to some grass that does not make a compact sod. 

 If hoed crops are grown between the trees until that time 

 it will do no harm and economize the space. Almost no 

 pruning is needed tor this tree, except to keep the 

 branches from getting so low as to interfere with tillage. 

 See Walnut. 



The Chestnuts.— AweWcan Species.— Like the wal- 

 nuts, our native chestnuts are not so desirable for mar- 

 ket purposes as those from foreign countries. The wild 

 American chestnut, Castanea Americana^ is richer in 

 quality than any foreign kind, but the size is less than half 

 that of the introduced nuts. Throughout the larger part 

 of the eastern United States, and extending into lower 

 Canada, there are untold millions of native chestnut 

 trees, yielding a wealth of nuts that find ready sale in 

 the markets, so far as they are gathered; but the prices 

 are only about half those of the large cultivated and im- 

 ported product. At the present time there are but few 

 attempts made to cultivate this species. Some of the 

 choice varieties with the largest nuts are being collected 

 for experiment, and there is reasonable prospect that by 

 hybridization and selection of seedlings we may yet 

 have varieties combining the vigor and hardihood of the 

 ■wild trees with the characteristic natural sweetness and 

 large size of the foreign nuts. 



The chinquapin, O. pumila, is the smallest of the 

 chestnut family, in size of both nut and tree. Rarely is 

 it anything more than a mere bush. It has rarely been 

 cultivated, although the bushes are productive and the 

 nuts of good quality. 



European Species. — The Old World chestnut, C. saf- 

 iva, has been under cultivation almost as long as his- 

 tory goes. It was brought to America in the first 

 century of its settlement by Europeans; but not until 

 within the last 25 years has there been more than an 

 occasional tree found on our shores. The accidental 

 finding of a chance seedling, which was finally named 

 Paragon and sent out to the public about 1887, and the 

 bringing to notice of the Ridgeley shortly before that 

 time, were the means of exciting the first general inter- 

 est in chestnut culture in America. Both these kinds, 

 and a great many more named varieties, are now being 

 propagated and scattered far and wide. They are all of 

 large size but not as sweet as our native chestnuts, and 

 generally have bitter skins. The trees are of robust 

 character and very productive, but more tender than our 

 natives. 



Japanese Species. — About the time that the European 

 species was becoming popular in America attention was 

 drawn to a number of seedlings from nuts that had been 

 brought from Japan during several previous years. The 

 most of them were larger than any that had been known 

 before, either in tliis country or in Europe, Many of 

 them are now named and widely distributed. Some of 

 the smaller varieties are exceedingly early in ripening. 

 Nearly all of them begin to bear at an early age and are 

 even more productive than the average of the European 

 species. In quality, the niits of most of them are not 

 quite so sweet as the European kinds. The habit of 

 growth is less vigorous than that of other chestnuts. 



Prom these two foreign species we have all of our varie- 

 ties that, up to this time, are worthy of general cultiva- 

 tion. They vary from seed much as do most other im- 

 proved varieties of fruits, etc., and grafting and budding 

 must be practiced, which are exceedingly difficult to suc- 

 cessfully perform on the chestnut, as is the case with 

 all other nut trees. They will both unite fairly well 

 with our native stocks; although sometimes the union 

 is imperfect and the top breaks off. 



G ra ft inr/. — The most successful method of propagat- 

 ing nut trees, so far as the writer has experimented or 

 learned otherwise, is late bark-grafting This requires 

 that the cions be cut before there is any possibility of 



the buds starting, and put in some very cool place until 

 after the stocks have begun to leaf out. The stocks are 

 then cut off as for cleft-grafting, but the bark only is 

 split with a knife for an inch or more at the top of the 

 stock. The cion is trimmed to a long wedge, all from 

 one side. The point of this wedge is introduced under 

 the bark at the top of the slit and gently forced down 

 until the cut surface of the cion is even with the top of 

 the stump. It is then tied fast with a string and the 

 wound securely waxed. Large trees may be thus top- 

 worked in their branches with considerable success. 

 Small stocks should be grafted just under the surface 

 of the ground and banked nearly to the top of the cion. 



Sfitmp Groves. — In several cases large tracts of chest- 

 nut sturap lands have been grafted over to the improved 

 varieties of the foreign species with good success. All 

 other trees should be cleared away and only two or three 

 of the strongest sprouts left on each stump. These 

 should all be grafted and allowed to grow until it is sure 

 that there will be a sufiicient stand, when those that are 

 not needed should be cut away. In future years more 

 may be cut away to give the remaining trees ample room. 



Chestnut Orchards. — The best results are said to be 

 attained in chestnut-culture by planting grafted trees 

 on open land, about 25 feet apart and in regular orchard 

 form. This plan admits of giving the trees good tilhige 

 until they have attained large size, when grass may be 

 sown and stock allowed to graze it, except when the 

 nuts are falling. Such orchards are said, by those who 

 have tried them in comparison with grafted sprouts, to 

 yield more than twice as much per acre. Well-drained 

 sandy or shallow lands are the best for the chestnut. 



Weevil. — The wor^t feature of chestnut-culture is the 

 weevil. In some cases the nuts are so badly infested 

 that they are practically worthless. The eggs from 

 which the larvae develop are laid by a long-snouted 

 beetle while the nuts are growing, and by the time they 

 are mature the most of them are either hatched or 

 nearly ready to hatch. By treating the nuts with the 

 fumes of bisulphide of carbon the eggs or larvae can all 

 be destroyed. Scalding with boiling water for about 

 ten minutes will also kill them, but it also destroys the 

 germinative power of the nuts and necessitates drying 

 them. See Castanea and Chestnut. 



The Pecan [Hicoria Pecan). — In the Wild State.— 

 Of all our native nuts the Pecan is the best Its nat- 

 ural habitat is the lower Mississippi basin, from Iowa 

 to the Gulf coast, but it will grow equally as well in any 

 climate and soil of approximately the same character. 

 The tree is almost as hardy as any of the other hickories, 

 except some of its more southern varieties. In size the 

 tree varies from medium, on laud of ordinary fertility, 

 to gigantic proportions on the rich river and creek bot- 

 toms. The nuts vary in size and shape from round and 

 K an inch indiametertooblong and IK inches in length. 

 The kernels are exceedingly rich and sweet, and the 

 shells usually thin. Pecans are found in all confec- 

 tionaries, and bring almost as high prices as any of the 

 imported nuts. The largest and thinnest shelled varie- 

 ties are found in Louisiana and Texas. Millions of 

 pounds are gathered annually in those states and sold 

 to dealers, thus bringing a handsome revenue to many 

 people of moderate means. 



Under Cultii^at ion. — The decrease of the wild prod- 

 uct from the cutting down of the trees, and the better 

 prices obtained from large, thin-.shelled nuts, have in- 

 duced the planting of pecan orchards. The nuts sprout 

 readily, and the trees are of easy growth, with reason- 

 able care, in proper soil and climate. In Texas there is 

 one orchard of 11,000 trees planted on 400 acres and grown 

 from the best nuts procurable. In Florida there is another 

 of 4.000 grafted trees on 100 acres. There are many 

 smaller orchards planted in nearly all the states from 

 Virginia to Missouri and California, southward. The 

 line of 40° north latitude is about the limit of success- 

 ful pecan culture, and the region from 35° southward 

 is much better. The nuts do not fill and ripen well 

 where the growing season is short. 



It has been learned that by cutting back the tops of 

 wild trees {thus causing an abundance of sprouts), and 

 then budding in August or September, large trees may 

 be quickly transformed into such as will produce the 

 highest grade of nuts. 



