2294 



NURSERY 



NUT-CULTURE 



The number of establishments and the value of prod- 

 ucts not fed to live-stock for the other divisions are: 

 North Atlantic, 496, $3,076,241; South Central, 287, 

 $1,347,253; Western, 241, $944,289; South Atlantic, 

 169, $825,685. New York leads in the quantity of 

 nursery stock produced, being credited with over half 

 of the total reported for the North Atlantic division. 

 For many years the state has been prominent in this 

 industry, it now having 237 establishments and prod- 

 ucts valued at $1,703,354. Some of the other leading 

 states, in value of products, are: Iowa, $636,543; 

 Illinois, $610,971; Ohio, $538,534; California, $533,038; 

 and Pennsylvania, $515,010. 



The Thirteenth Census (1910) reports the acreage 

 in nursery products in 1909, as 80,618, "showing an 

 increase of 35.5 per cent since 1899, while the value of 

 the products more than doubled during the decade, 

 amounting to $21,051,000 in 1909. The average 

 value per acre increased from $170.17 in 1899 to 

 $261.12 in 1909. Of the total value of nursery products 

 98 per cent was reported by 2,470 special nursery 

 establishments, the aggregate value for such estab- 

 lishments being $20,620,000, and the average per 

 establishment $8,348. The value of nursery products 

 in 1909 was over $1,000,000 in every division except 

 New England and the Mountain divisions. The Middle 

 Atlantic division, with a product of $4,355,000, ranked 

 first, followed in order by the West North Central 

 and Pacific divisions each with a product valued in 

 excess of $3,000,000. The three leading states in this 

 respect were New York, with $2,703,000; California, 

 with $2,135,000; and Texas, with $1,236,000; no other 

 state producing as much as $1,000,000 worth." 



The nursery interests of this country are represented 

 in a strong organization known as the American Asso- 

 ciation of Nurserymen, which holds a movable annual 

 meeting in June and publishes a report (see page 1553). 

 There are also societies representing geographical 

 regions. At the present time, there is one periodical 

 devoted to the nursery business, "The National 

 Nurseryman," which is published monthly at Roches- 

 ter, New York. The American current book writings 

 devoted specifically to the business are Fuller's "Prop- 

 agation of Plants" and Bailey's "Nursery-Book." 



L. H. B. 



NUT-CULTURE. Seeds with a hard shell and edible 

 kernel, which are classified colloquially under the 

 head of nuts, are borne chiefly upon trees or shrubs. 

 A few species of annual plants furnish nut crops. In 

 most parts of the world nuts have been collected chiefly 

 from wild seedling trees, but in some countries the 

 hazel, the almond, and the walnut in particular have 

 been grown in orchard form since very early times. 

 Such grouping offers better facilities for cultivation and 

 for gathering of the crops. 



It is probable that the almond, which is very easily 

 budded, has been subjected to that process since the 

 days of the Romans. More recently the hazels and the 

 walnuts have been propagated by budding and by 

 grafting in the European countries. The larger part of 

 nut orchards, however, have consisted of seedling 

 trees of selected varieties. In the latter part of the 

 nineteenth century there developed a widely extended 

 movement, including several countries, toward graft- 

 ing or budding particularly desirable varieties or 

 species of nut-bearing trees or shrubs upon appro- 

 priate stocks. A still more advanced procedure, 

 that of hybridizing, for the purpose of combining 

 characteristics of especially desirable kinds, belongs 

 almost peculiarly to the twentieth century. Nut-bear- 

 ing trees which are chiefly wind-pollinized have been 

 so extensively crossed in nature that few of them breed 

 true to seed. They are much like the apple in this 

 respect. The new movement of artificial pollinizing 

 promises to accomplish for the nut-tree what it has 



accomplished for many other kinds of fruits. A notable 

 development of the industry of nut-raising may be 

 anticipated as a result of the application of modern 

 methods. 



Some species of trees, like the coconuts and the nut- 

 bearing pine trees, apparently gain little or nothing 

 from cultivation. Almonds, chestnuts, hickories, hazels 

 and walnuts, on the other hand, are remarkably sus- 

 ceptible to influences of cultivation, and they respond 

 with crops which are valuable largely in proportion to 

 the degree of skilled attention which has been given 

 by the horticulturist. Species of trees which have not 

 as yet been cultivated for man's purposes, although 

 valuable in some cases for mast crops for animals, will 

 presumably be given much more attention in the future. 

 Certain kinds, like the beeches and the oaks, may 

 eventually furnish large quantities of food for man. 

 Acorns, while rich in protein, fat and starches, contain 

 in addition disagreeable elements like berberine or 

 tannin in excess. These elements may be bred out to 

 a greater or less extent by horticulturists. The horse- 

 chestnuts of various species which bear heavy crops of 

 nuts, valuable in food-content, are little used except 

 by the Indians, who crush the nuts and wash out the 

 soluble elements which are undesirable. It is probable 

 that chemistry will eventually solve the question in 

 such a way as to allow this group of trees to be grown 

 for food purposes more generally. 



Among the desirable kinds of nut-trees which have 

 already been subjected to cultivation, it is found that 

 grafting and budding bring out certain characteristics 

 belonging to those of other fruit-trees, when subjected 

 to the same process. There is apparently a tendency 

 toward precocious bearing, and the grafted or budded 

 nut-trees appear to be more prolific than others, and 

 perhaps to be shorter-lived in consequence. A number 

 of species of nut-trees which do not bear naturally until 

 they are fifteen years or more of age as seedling trees, 

 may begin to bear in one to three years after grafting 

 or budding upon other stocks. 



The methods of grafting or budding are in general 

 those which are employed for other fruit-trees, but 

 rather more expert work is required on the part of the 

 horticulturist, and several factors have to be taken into 

 consideration. In grafting or budding nut-trees which 

 have particularly hard wood, very accurate work is 

 required for the purpose of getting the cambium layers 

 of stock and of insert neatly adjusted. The slow callus- 

 ing of hardwood trees of this group requires particular 

 care in the method chosen for protecting the inserts 

 against drying out before granulation is completed. 

 Some of the nut-trees, walnuts particularly, have 

 such a free flow of sap that the method of placing inserts 

 must be so adapted that this sap is allowed to escape 

 freely, otherwise the dammed sap decomposes and 

 destroys the callus. 



The question as to whether grafting or budding is 

 particularly desirable for any one species of nut-tree has 

 not yet been determined. Some of the nut-tree growers 

 in temperate regions prefer grafting in the spring, while 

 others are convinced that August budding gives best 

 results. Under these circumstances one is probably 

 dealing with a matter of individual proficiency and 

 skill, rather than with any fundamental principle in 



Slant physiology which is involved in the question, 

 ions which are to be employed for spring grafting of 

 nut-trees are best cut in the autumn. They may be 

 stored in densely packed leaves or kept in cold storage 

 until the following season. Sometimes they may be 

 buried in sand. There is danger from the effects of 

 too much moisture when cions are kept in sand, 

 because the protoplasm of buds becomes senescent or 

 undergoes chemical change when carrying a full charge 

 of water. For August budding, two methods are 

 employed. The leaves of the prospective bud-stick are 

 cut off, leaving the petioles in place. At the end of a few 



