SELECTING NUT TREES FOR PLANTING 



623 



able conditions ot soil, moisture and climatic environ- 

 ment, all are capable of rivaling the eastern black wal- 

 nut in such points as size, as beauty of tree and in size of 

 crops. 



Were it not for the blight which is now making prac- 

 tically a clean sweep of destruction over the eastern 

 states, wherever the native chestnut is found, the Amer- 

 ican chestnut Castanea dcntata would certainly be en- 

 titled to leading consideration as a highway and orna- 

 mental tree. Unaffected by blight or other disease, it is 

 one of the largest growing and most graceful species in 

 the eastern United States. The European chestnut is 

 nearly as susceptible to this blight as is the American 

 species. The chestnuts from eastern Asia now appear to 

 be sufficiently immune to offer a practical solution to the 

 situation by their introduction into this country. How- 

 ever, they commonly lack the sweet agreeable flavor of 

 the American species and need hybridizing in order to 

 improve their quality. This the Federal Department of 

 Agriculture is now doing, and in due time there may be 

 something to offer in ample quantity which will make a 

 satisfactory substitute for the native species. Exclusive 

 of the Asiatic species and the government hybrids, there 

 are now no available species which can be recommended 

 for planting in the blight affected area, and these should 

 be planted only for test purposes. 



The pines referred to at the outset of this article as be- 

 ing important nut ])roducers are all western species found 

 only on the mountains and nowhere under cultivation. 

 There are at least fourteen sjjccies. Representatives are 

 found in most of the Rocky Mountain states. The most 

 important species is Finns cdulis. It is found at alti- 

 tudes of from five to seven thousand feet in the moun- 

 tains of New Mexico, Arizona and northern Mexico. In 

 favorable years, the seeds are gathered in enormous 

 quantities under the name of "pinons," or according to 

 the Mexicans, "pinyonies." The nuts are rich in flavor, 

 but small and difficult to extract from the shells. They 

 are not well known in the eastern market, but in the 

 Southwest they form a highly important article of food 

 for the Indians and Mexicans. These pines are exceed- 

 ingly slow growers and not of graceful form. They 

 could scarcely be considered for highway planting, ex- 

 cept at the altitudes to which they are common, and then, 

 probably, only where some more satisfactory shade trees 

 would not succeed. 



Among all American s])ecies of trees, it is probable 

 that in a combination of beauty, longevity, strength and 

 hardiness, the American beech Faffus grandifolia is 

 unexcelled. Although commonly looked upon as being a 

 northern sjiecies, its range extends south to northern 

 Florida and west to the Trinity River, in Texas. It is 

 most familiar as a clean-barked, spreading tree, with 

 low head, and a height of from fifty to sixty feet. How- 

 ever, its form depends largely upon environment. The 

 writer has seen it in the bottoms of southwestern Geor- 

 gia, in common with the magnolia, growing to a height 

 of from seventy-five to one hundred feet and with trunks 

 of two feet in diameter extending upward in a manner 

 which, with regard to height and uniformity of size, com- 



pared favorably with the long-leaf Georgia pine. The 

 nuts of the beech are rich in quality and of excellent fla- 

 vor, but owing to their small size and the great difficulty 

 attending the extraction of the kernels, they are not 

 ranked as being of direct importance for human food. 



A TYPICAL NATIVE BLACK WALNUT 

 This species is one of the most rapid growing of any of the native timber 

 producing trees. Its range has been extended until it now covers prac- 

 tically the entire United States with the exception of the sections rep- 

 resenting the extremes of latitude, altitude, moisture and dryness. It is 

 very useful in the landscape, and in the number of bushels of nuts pro- 

 duced it was the leading species of the country when the last census 

 was taken. 



Their principal use in this country is as a mast crop for 

 turkeys and swine, for which they serve a most useful 

 ])urpose. Crops which can be used in this manner to 

 good advantage, thus practically obviating the problems 

 of harvesting, storing and marketing, are certainly well 

 worth thinking about in these days of labor scarcity. 



There are few large sections of the United States 

 adapted to the growing of trees to which some nut- 

 bearing species is not suited. Most species of nut trees 

 are as capable of producing shade and ornamental effect, 

 and are as hardy and lasting as any others which might 

 be mentioned. In addition, they produce an edible prod- 

 uct which is entering into the list of staple food products 

 with great rapidity. The present scarcity of meats and 

 the consequent high prices are compelling the substitu- 

 tion of other products. The superiority of nuts over 

 practically all other products which are available, as sub- 

 stitutes, scarcely needs argument. Already nuts are be- 

 ing pressed into service as rapidly as production per- 

 mits and ])erhaps more so than prices and comparative 

 food values justify. 



