J 



32 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



1,723,5(J() pounds was mainly Persian walnuts. To tbese should be added shipments 

 by sea amounting to 94,500 pounds in 1891, making an aggregate shipment during 

 1891 of 1,818,060 pounds of walnuts. 



The product, by years, in California is given in pounds as follows: 



1885 1,250,000 I 1889 1,500,000 



1886 750,000 



1887 1, 500, 000 



1888 1,000,000 



1890 2, 000, 000 



1891 2,500,000 



1892, about 2, 500, 000 



It is fair to presume that the present annual shipments from the State are at 

 least 1,750,000 pounds, worth $160,000. The largest cultivated walnut grove in this 

 country, and probably the largest in the world, is said to be that of Messrs. Jones, 

 Culton, Minor & Fowler. It contains 700 acres. 



F. H. Keith, of Anaheim, Los Angeles County, shipped in 1890 nine carloads of 

 the nuts, each car containing 136,383 pounds, valued at 9 cents per pound. lie finds 

 the returns to be about $200 per acre. John Markley, of Geyserville, probably writing 

 of the results obtained in the southern counties rather than in Sonoma County where 

 he lives, says: "Planted in the proper place at the proper distance apart a Persian 

 walnut orchard is one of the safest and best paying pieces of property under the sun, 

 but one has to hold his financial breath so long waiting for them. It takes the com- 

 mon Persian walnut from ten to twelve years before bearing paying crops, and it 

 takes California seedlings from six to eight years, but how they do pay when all 

 conditions are right from $400 to $1,000 per acre! Trees should be planted from 40 

 to 50 feet apart in well-drained rich land with climate and conditions like Los Angeles, 

 Santa Barbara, and many other places in California, but we can tell only by trying and 

 proving the place. In many places they do not fertilize. Large and thrifty trees thus 

 fail to bear, and we are now planting the Persian, Santa Barbara, Soft Shell, Mayette, 

 etc., and Juglans nifjra (black walnut) in the same orchard to furnish pollen." 



OliCHAHl) SITES. 



A It is evident from all that has been written that the Persian walnut, even in regions 

 where it succeeds best, has proved to be a very capricious and fastidious ward of the 

 horticulturist. Whatever may be the capabilities of the new varieties, the Los Angeles 

 walnut, which constitutes by far the larger part of the trees planted, is regarded as 

 profitable only in the counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara, Orange, and Los Angeles. 

 And within those counties the localities of profitable production are relatively small. 

 The condensed replies received from most of our correspondents on this subject will 

 read: "Plant walnuts only on rich, moist, well-drained lands in valleys within 30 

 miles of the coast, where there is water within 10 or 15 feet of the surface." In this 

 connection the experience of Russell Heath, of Carpentaria, may be of value to intend- 

 ing planters. He regards the selection of a suitable locality of the utmost importance. 

 His first effort was in Ventura County, where, after a trial of one and a half years, he 

 found he had made a mistake in his selection and removed to his present location. 

 He selected ground covered with a dense jungle, of which 180 acres were cleared at 

 an expense of over $100 per acre and planted it to the Persian walnut. These trees 

 are reported to have grown luxuriantly and to have made a fine and profitable orchard. 

 It is a point of some interest to know that the timber which originally covered the 

 ground was oak, as it is commonly believed in California that the walnut will not 

 succeed on oak land. 



This practice of planting on none but exceedingly rich land, if found to be the 

 only successful one, will necessarily limit the acreage planted, and probably make 

 impossible the production of enough nuts to supply the demands of our home markets, 

 because of the comparative scarcity of such land and its value for other purposes. 

 Experience has shown that to prevent crowding on such land the trees must not be 

 closer than 50 feet each way, which allows but 17 trees to the acre too small a, 



