ROOTS FOR THE ENGLISH WALNUT 



511 



trees can be found in the clays and decomposed granite soils of the 

 foot-hills, as well as in the valley silts and loams. Adequate mois- 

 ture must, however, be had, and the walnut can not be commended 

 for dry, neglected places nor for soils which overlie leachy subsoils 

 described on page 36. 



Propagation. The walnut tree grows readily from nuts treated 

 as described in Chapter VIII. In the main the use of seedlings 

 has hitherto prevailed, and the nut has been looked upon as com- 

 ing sufficiently true from seed. Recently, however, this has changed 

 rapidly, and grafting to secure a high, uniform grade and to secure 

 fruitfulness in spite of the blight is commanding wide attention. 



Excellent results have been obtained by using the California 

 black as a stock for the English walnut, and in that case budding 

 or grafting must be resorted to. Many instances of the success 

 of the English walnut on our native stock might be cited, but the 

 most notabk tree known to the writer is to be seen on the grounds 

 of John R. Wolfskill, on Putah Creek, in Solano County. He put 

 in a bud in 1875 and the tree has reached immense size and large 

 product. Since then many large native black walnuts have been 

 top-grafted with the English walnut with notable success, not only 

 in orchards, but along highways where the native black walnut has 

 been planted for shade and ornament. 



Mr. F. S. Leib, of San Jose, who has given much attention to 

 stocks for the English walnut believes that the cross of the Cali- 

 fornia black and the Eastern black walnuts and the California black 

 walnut straight afford the best seedlings for roots for the English 

 walnut, but advises close selection to secure the best growth. This 

 is his prescription: 



"The Royal hybrid (every cross between the native Eastern 

 black walnut and the native California black walnut is called a 

 Royal hybrid), is, in my opinion, the most magnificent growing tree 

 in the walnut line, and I believe that in the future some Royal hy- 

 brids can, by persistent selection, be sufficiently fixed to furnish 

 the strongest possible roots of substantial uniformity on which to 

 graft. At present I know of only one tree, picked out from many 

 hundreds, which is sufficiently fixed to grow a fair percentage of 

 seedlings equal to itself. Only from one to two per cent of the 

 seedlings of most Royal hybrids is equal to the parent, and the per- 

 centage of even the best straight California is only from fifteen to 

 twenty per cent, and the poorest give less than one per cent. 



At present, we, by a system of sprouting, are able to eliminate 

 four-fifths of the weakest growing nuts, and we plant the remaining 

 fifth in the nursery. Twenty-five per cent of such remaining nuts 

 from our selected trees of Royal hybrid blood, and fifteen to twenty 

 per cent from our selected California trees, grow three to four feet 

 the first year. The three to four foot seedlings in the nursery are 



