WALNUTS 187 



Persian walnuts of European parentage are prone 

 to be capricious in our country east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. In suitable ground they grow thriftily 

 and bear heavily. There are many valuable trees of 

 this species here and there about the country, some 

 of them in orchard form. On the whole we shall 

 do better in the east with other kinds of nut trees 

 for large market production, growing Persian wal- 

 nuts of European varieties only in those localities 

 in which they are known to be contented with condi- 

 tions of climate and soil. 



There is a tendency for all Persian walnut trees 

 to store up tannin in the pellicle of the kernel and 

 likewise certain bitter elements. These may rendei 

 the nut low grade if not actually unpalatable from 

 some trees. Such was the case with a large lot se- 

 cured by the author from Thibet. Here and there 

 a seedling tree bearing nuts of remarkably fine qual- 

 ity has been found. Propagation from such trees 

 is now under way experimentally throughout a 

 greater part of temperate North America. The 

 Persian walnut seems to thrive best upon stocks of 

 the eastern black walnut. Black walnut trees grow 

 with great vigor and on the whole to a larger size 

 than the Persian walnut, consequently this relative 

 excess of vigor is passed over to the Persian walnut 

 grafted upon black walnut stocks. 



Propagation of the Persian walnut has formerly 

 been found to be difficult at the hands of most horti- 

 culturists. Even in the Grenoble district in France, 

 the home of experts in walnut growing, every village 



