42 NUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



While it seems probable that the tree now known as J. cordiformis will eventually 

 be considered a botanical variety of J. sieboldiana, the differences in the nut charac- 

 ters seem of sufficient importance from a poinological standpoint to warrant their 

 discussion here as three distinct species. 



JDGLANS 8IEBOLDIANA. 



This seems to have been the first of the Japanese walnuts introduced. The oldest 

 tree now known to be growing in the United States having been grown from seed 

 planted about 1860 by a Mr. Towerhouse in Shasta County, Gal. The beauty of the 

 tree and the desirability of the nut attracted attention ; its identity was unknown 

 until determined in 1881 by Gr. P. Eixford, to whom the matter was referred by the 

 California Horticultural Society. 1 



It is now widely distributed, being mentioned by correspondents in 1891, as grown 

 in California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas, though there was no record 

 at that time of its having fruited outside of Shasta, Sonoma, and Butte counties, Cal. 

 The nut is ovate in form, with a sharpened point and smooth shell, which is thicker 

 than that of the Persian walnut, but thinner than that of the American black walnut; 

 the kernel has the flavor of the American butternut, but is less oily. Its quality is 

 superior. The nuts are borne in clusters of twelve or fifteen each at the tips of the 

 previous season's branches. The clusters of pistillate blossoms stand at an angle of 

 45 to the branchlets, and later, as the nutlets increase in size, the long slender stem 

 gradually curves until the cluster becomes pendant. The tree is described by Luther 

 Burbank as follows : "This species is found growing wild in the mountains of northern 

 Japan, and is, without doubt, as hardy as an oak. The leaves are of immense size and 

 a charming shade of green. The trees grow with great vigor, assume a very hand- 

 some form, need no pruning, mature early, bear young, and are more regular and 

 productive than the English [Persian] walnut. The tree makes a more rapid growth 

 than the shellbark hickory, the pecan, the Eastern black walnut, or the Persian walnut, 

 but does not grow as fast as the native black walnut of northern California." 



Concerning its propagation, Mr. Burbauk states: 2 "It is easily grafted on our 

 common walnut (J. Californica), and its trunk retains the same dimensions as the 

 stock; but it is by seed that it should be multiplied. It reproduces itself perfectly 

 true, and if the younger plants remain bushy during the first year, the tree shoots 

 afterwards, and, thanks to its rapid growth, promptly assumes large dimensions." 



JUGLANS CORDIFORMIS. 



This nut, which is said to be indigenous to the Island of Yezo, the most northern 

 portion of the Japanese Empire, was but recently introduced. It has not fruited in 

 California, but is reported as making a satisfactory growth in Sonoma County. 



Mrs. H. IT. Berger says, probably concerning its behavior in Japan: "Its Japanese 

 name, Herni-Kurumi, is derived from its distinctly heart shaped sharp-pointed fruit. 

 The tree, which is of fine appearance, bears at four years from the seed and is said to 

 attain a great age. As a dessert nut its fruit equals the Persian walnut in flavor, and 

 the peculiar heart-shaped form of its kernels, which can be extracted whole by boiling 

 the nuts for about five minutes and cracking while still hot, gives it a peculiar value 

 for table use. The meat is very sweet and is much used in the form of candied nuts. 

 The species is of easy culture, and accommodates itself to any soil where the English 

 walnut will grow." 



Mr. Burbank says : " I am thoroughly convinced that some of the best varieties of 

 J. cordiformis will prove to be of inestimable valise. The meat, which is large and of 



1 W. J. Klee, in Arid Regions of the Pacific Slope, 1882, page 142 ; also Wickson, California Fruits, 

 page 507. 



2 American Garden, 1890, page 708. 



