ORCHARD CARE 



twelve years later. The matter of bearing, however, 

 depends upon other factors than that of variety or 

 species. If the grafting material is taken from 

 bearing wood it will produce nuts much more quickly 

 than if it is taken from water sprouts or stump 

 sprouts, acting very much like apple grafting mate- 

 rial in this regard. A nut tree which might not bear 

 under ordinary wild conditions until it was twenty 

 years of age may at one year of age furnish scions 

 for grafting upon stocks three years of age, and 

 these grafts may then fruit in the second year after- 

 ward. A difference between five and twenty years, 

 let us say, brought about by grafting and cultivation. 



On the whole, nut orchards are to be spoken of 

 like apple orchards in so far as the time of profitable 

 bearing is concerned. The advantage of the nut 

 orchard over the apple orchard lies in the greater 

 average age to which nut trees grow, steadier market 

 demand for the product, less need for hurry in col- 

 lecting and marketing the crop, greater food value 

 of the crop and larger net income to be derived from 

 the product of the nut orchard. 



Nut trees in general will stand more neglect than 

 would be tolerated by fruit trees which have been 

 under cultivation for centuries. On the other hand, 

 all nut trees will purr when petted. One of the little 

 scrub hickories standing a bit apart from other 

 scrubs was accidentally included among grafted hick- 

 ories which were being cultivated in one of my 

 lots. This went on for three or four years before 

 the mistake was observed. The little wild hickory 



