THE WALNUT OUR NATIONAL TREE? 



471 



State Forest Reserve. Two areas 

 have been planted to walnut on rath- 

 er poor soil underlaid at about four 

 feet with an impervious shade. One 

 plantation after 14 years shows an 

 average height of 3 to 4 feet, while 

 in the other, a rather better site, 

 some trees are two inches in diame- 

 ter at breast height after 13 years 

 although many are only about four 

 feet tall. This is in a region of good 

 rainfall and not the prairie section 

 of the State. Another plantation 

 near South Bend is on the sandy soil 

 characteristic of the region about the 

 south end of Lake Michigan and 

 gives no promise. 



"Second to the planting on un- 

 suitable sites as an explanation of 

 the poor development of plantations, 

 is lack of care. The spacing is gen- 

 erally too close to be maintained for 

 many years and nearly every stand 

 demands judicious thinning. Farm- 

 ers are very unwilling to cut out 

 any trees that show any sign of life 

 in the first place, as it looks like just 

 so much stuff of potential value 

 thrown away. Second- 

 ly, they look at thin- 

 ning in a planta- 

 tion as the mechani- 

 cal removal of every 

 other row or alternate 

 trees without regard to 

 condition or size. A 

 thinning on the basis 

 of crown classes is a 

 new idea to them. It is 

 imperative to the prop- 

 er development of the 

 stand, however. It real- 

 ly seems to require 

 rather trained judg- 

 ment to tell what den- 

 sity to maintain. If the 

 stand gets too open the 

 trees will become the 



orchard type, if too close there 

 will be an excessively low incre- 

 ment. A close initial spacing and 

 frequent thinnings probably will give 

 rise to the best results in merchant- 

 able timber, and a mixed stand is 

 perhaps still better. I can see no 

 likelihood of the average farmer 

 managing either with any degree of 

 success. 



"Since, therefore, it demands po- 

 tentially agricultural soils and care- 

 ful management to give any sort of 

 decent return, walnut is scarcely 

 adapted to management in solid 

 stands by farmers for the financial 

 return only. 



"But on the other hand there is 

 a wide field for useful planting about 

 the farm on bottomland strips un- 

 suited to agriculture on account of 

 flooding, odd-shaped corners, low 

 permanent pastures, etc. In these 

 places the trees may be planted 

 singly, in groups, or rows, with gen- 

 erally wide spacing, the idea being 

 generally to improve the looks and 

 condition of the farm, offer shelter 

 for stock and made 

 every unused corner 

 produce something. 

 Such plantations will 

 not interfere with 

 grazing to any extent 

 or conflict with any 

 more remunerative use 

 of the land. The trees 

 will never yield timber 

 of high technical value, 

 but although the height 

 growth is inferior, 

 diameter growth will 

 be rapid and the tree 

 will actually become a 

 valuable merchantable 

 article and an asset to 

 the farm, and in the 

 aggregate to the whole 



NIFICENT WALNUT ABOUT TO BE SAWN INTO LOGS Country." 



"THE KNOT OVER WASHINGTON'S TOMB," 

 AN UNUSUALLY GREAT WALNUT BURL. 

 THE BURL WAS ABOUT 100 YEARS OLD 

 AND FIVE FEET THROUGH WHEN PLACED 

 IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM RECENTLY. 

 THE TREE WAS PLANTED BY WASHING- 

 TON'S FATHER AND WAS PROBABLY ONE 

 HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OLD WHEN 

 IT DIED IN 1916 



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