1098 



NURSERY 



such is not the case. The chief difficulty seems to be a 

 physical one. Lands which are devoted to nursery stools; 

 for one crop, which is from two to five years, becomes 

 void of humus, and the digging of the stock when the 

 land is wet or unlit to be worked tends to impair the 

 physical character of the soil. Experiments have shoivn 

 that commercial fertilizers will not always reclaim lauds 

 which have been treed, whereas barn manures and green 

 crops may go very far towards revitalizing them. As a 



NUT -CULTURE 



sion that the choice varieties are not suited to any section 

 east of the Rocky mountains, except, perhaps, in south- 

 western Texas and New Mexico. The close relationship 

 to the peach would cause us to expect that it would 

 succeed wherever that fruit does; but the trees of the 

 choice varieties are too tender to endure any but very 

 mild climates, and the fruit-buds are still more tender. 

 The chief failing, however, is the habit of very early 

 blooming, which causes the crop to be cut off by spring 

 frosts, except in peculiarly favorable localities. There 

 are differences in the ability of the varieties to endure 

 cold and in time of blooming, even where they are 

 counted a success. Not until seedlings were grown and 

 tested, from which selections were made of suitable 

 kimls, did the growing of this nut prove profitable. 

 /.' , .'/ix and Methods of Culture.— At the present time 

 : I u !■.• of the almond is confined chiefly to California, 

 nil' extent in Oregon, Utah, Idaho, Arizona and 

 \^ ,. M.M.n. Fair i-nips of aliimnds <.f the highest 



result of inability to grow vigorous stock on treed land, 

 a large part of the nursery stock of the country, partic- 

 ularly fruit trees, is grown on rc-ntrd hind. (In tin- 



give the requisite attention to tlie growiim ir. c >. 



The nursery interests of this country are rrpn'M uti- 

 in a strong organization known as the Anii-rii-aii \s^, 

 elation of Nurserymen, which holds a nioval'li- :iiitin: 

 meeting in June and pnl>li«li.-s a rc;>r<rt. 'I'lh-ir m.- :il- 



present time. tli. i ! . ■ 



nursery busim - ; : i , . - 



lished monthly al l;."Oii-n r, \. N'. I'Im \iu'iH:in .hi 

 rent book writings dpyoted spoi'ifioally to tin- businc-s 

 are Puller's "Propagation of Plants" and Bailey's "Nui 

 sery-Book." L H. B. 



NUT in common language usauc- i- im, ii.n 1 Im 11- 

 Eruit which will keep for a mori- ..r :■ i i ; ■ in. 



without special efforts at preservn i h , 



sense, a Nut is a hard and dr\' ii m-.i m , - 



fruit in which one or more ovules h;n .• l.,-i-ii >li|.|.i. --, 

 by abortion. In this .sense, walnuts, hickory-iiiii? 

 acorns and cocoanuts are Nuts, but almonds, peamii 

 and Brazil-nuts are not. L H. B. 



NUT, AUSTRALIAN. Macadamia ternifolin. 



NUT, CHILEAN. 



Avellana. 



NUT-CULTURE. From the earliest times nuts have 

 been used as an article of food in North America. The 

 prehistoric tribes left evidences of their use in the 

 specimens which were buried with their remains. When 

 the white settlers came they found sr-veral kinds of nuts 

 growing wild and bearing al)undaiitiy. aici tliouirht to 

 introduce the cultivated nuts of Eiii-.i"- al-niLT h ilh fruits 

 and farm crops that seemed tntionrisli in flu- \ \vj\n soil. 

 But little success seenn-d to .-itt.n.l lli-ir .-ailv .tVi.rts, 

 largely because nf lli.' nn- inii.iii' ■ -i :i- mii-ties 

 tested. The swc.i alni-.i :.: , uuid to 



be of this charai-tcr. an. I i' ■ . . ,.11.:. iih the 

 European walnut ami dit -1 imi \.. Ii.i -■ 1 in ■, .1 nl '-ii...'i'ed. 

 were not followed n\> liy exti-nsive plantings for many 

 years. Nor were any of the native nuts brought under 

 cultivation until very recently. Now there are many 

 orchards and groves of both foreign and native nuts, 

 some of which are already yielding profitable crops. 



The Almond (Primus Aniygdalns ).— Among the first 

 nuts to be tested were the cultivated almonds. All the 

 experiments up to the present day lead to the conclu- 



for the trees iu rich soil. T'niike tin- proper treatment 

 for peach trees, the almond tree should have but little 

 pruning, owing to a different habit of the fruiting 

 braacln-s. See also Almond. 



liM K.u.nvrs.— American Walnuts. — The kernels of 

 IS of the walnut family are liked because of 

 . Ii and delicious flavor; but some of them are so 

 niiiM and ditBoult to get out of the shell that they are 

 ol luik- or no commorcMal value. Our native black 

 wiiluut^ Jutflansufiiiii. an<l bnitcriiut, J. cinerefl, are of 

 this character. At pi.-^i.nt tin r.- are very few trees of 

 cither species that ai-- -r-.wii l.ir their nuts; but there 

 ai'.- -iomn ]nTi«pi-i-ts ..r inipi-.iv..|ii..iit in this direction. 



..-. .1 ■ ..I'! II . I . ■ ....... of walnuts. 



i;-ly 



thick shells to be of much valu... .^.-r ,ln,il,n,s. 



Persian Sjiecies. -TbePcr-.r.,n Ki,lnui . .1 . i ,,/„,, wlii<-h 

 has long been called English wal.mt and by s.-veral 

 ..111- 1 iiilrs, has been cultivated for many oenturii-s for 

 Mill ^helled and richly-flavored nuts. It is a native 

 I I . - la and the regions about the Caspian Sea. The 

 .1. . - and Romans took it to southern Europe before 

 iM ( hii-^tian era. It was brought to America in the 

 larly s(-ttlement of the country, but did not succeed 

 r\-rry\vln-re, and the few trees that survive in the 

 cast.-rn states have been mostly neglected. Some of 

 tln-nt have borne nuts abundantly and others have not. 

 Unproductiveness has generally been due to the iso- 

 lation of the trees and the inopportune times of the 

 blooming of the flowers of the two sexes. These isolated 

 trees are scattered over the eastern states from New 

 York to Georgia, and rarely beyond the Appalachian 

 mountain chain, because of the more uncongenial 

 climate there. Whether or not there will eventually be 

 orchards of this nut in the eastern United States is 

 doubtful. 



Regions of Successful Culture. — On the Pacific coast 

 the Persian walnut is a great success. True enough, 

 there are some failures, but they are mostly due to lack 

 of proper pollination, a matter which can and will soon 

 be generally understood and overcome. There are ex- 

 tensive orchards already in bearing, and with the 

 advantages which are now being afforded by the intro- 

 duction of the best varieties from Europe and the 

 origination of improved seedlings, the walnut industry 

 is sure to rapidly advance in that region. The soil of 

 the richer valleys of the Pacific slope is just what is 

 needed, and where there is an abundant supply of water 

 a tew feet under the surface there is no need of irriga- 

 tion. But in poor, dry soil it is folly to expect success. 

 The crop of California, alone, in 1899, was about S.'iO 

 car-loads of 20,000 pounds each. It is confidently ex- 



