THE WALNUTS PERSIAN WALNUT. 37 



the stock. Both scion and stock were allowed to unfold their buds and grow for a 

 week or ten days before the operation of grafting was performed. Previous to doing 

 this, the young shoots and foliage were rubbed off. Out of twenty-eight instances 

 twenty-two grew well, many producing shoots nearly a yard long and of very great 

 strength. The scions were attached to the young (annual) wood of stocks, which were 

 between C and 8 feet high, and in all cases they were placed to stand astride the stock, 

 one division of the scion being in some instances introduced between the bark and 

 the wood, while in others both divisions were fitted to the wood and bark in the ordi- 

 nary way. Both modes of operating were equally successful. In each of these 

 methods of grafting, it is advantageous to pare away almost all of the wood of both 

 the divisions of the scions, and therefore the large pith in the young shoots of the 

 walnut tree does not present any inconvenience to the grafter." 



Other methods that have been successful are cleft sap grafting (p. 15), prong graft- 

 ing (p. 14), and hothouse grafting (p. 16). 



Cultivation. During the first few years in orchard clean cultivation is advised, 

 though if well fertilized the ground may be used for low-growing hoed crops and even 

 for smaller and short-lived fruit trees. 



Pruning. The walnut needs but little pruning, and California growers cut only 

 those limbs that would interfere with teams in cultivating. When laden with fruit 

 the limbs are kept propped to avoid cutting. When cutting must be done, it should 

 be with a slanting cut from the underside of the part remaining on the tree, or the 

 wound should be well waxed to keep water out of the large pith where decay is apt to 

 begin. 



Age of bearing and the yield. In California the age at which bearing begins is 

 reported at from 4 to 10 years, and in the Atlantic States at 10 to 20 years. The 

 trees come gradually into bearing; they seldom yield more than 4 or 5 nuts the first 

 year of fruiting and from 2 to 5 pounds the second year. Some 20-year-old trees in 

 California yield 3 bushels of nuts per year. In Spain and south of France there are 

 trees believed to be over 300 years old which bear from 15 to 18 bushels of nuts each. 



HARVESTING. 



Loudon says: 1 "The fruit of the walnut (Juglans regia}, both in France and in 

 England, is commonly knocked from the trees by threshing the extremities of the 

 branches (on which alone it is produced) with long poles. By this process many of the 

 points of the branches are broken, which causes the production of many spur-like 

 shoots that afterwards bear flowers and fruit. Hence the custom of beating a barren 

 tree to make it bear. Bosc considers that beating down the fruit with poles is inju- 

 rious to the tree; but in France, he adds, 'as the trees are not in inclosures this bar- 

 barons practice is altogether unavoidable. If the trees were inclosed, or if property 

 exposed by the roadsides were sufficiently respected, it would be unnecessary to beat 

 down the nut at all, as the wind alone, when the fruit is completely matured, would 

 be quite sufficient to detach it from the tree.' 



" In gathering up the fruit that is either beaten down or has fallen naturally, 

 those nuts which have separated from the husks are kept by themselves, taken home, 

 and spread out on a boarded floor in an area, shed, or granary, to the depth of 3 

 inches. Here they are turned over daily till they become perfectly dry. Those fruits 

 from which the husks have not separated in the fall are placed in little heaps on the 

 ground, but still under covej, and turned over and gently beaten till the husk sepa- 

 rates. In France care is taken to prevent these heaps from fermenting, or ' sweating,' 

 as it is called, because that occasions change in the kernel and gives an unpleasant 

 flavor to the oil. When the nuts have been thoroughly dried those not wanted for 

 crushing for oil are laid by, often in wooden boxes or chests, where they are not sub- 



1 Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum, page 1434. 



