192 NUT GROWING 



timber value of a single tree of that ordinary sort 

 may reach two hundred dollars. Orchardists are 

 concerned with the nut values of the black walnut 

 only, and this note upon other features is made 

 briefly in passing to the main topic. 



Not much attention was given to the nuts of this 

 species previous to the year 1900. The reasons for 

 such neglect are easily stated. In mixed lots of nuts 

 from uncultivated trees the shell was usually thick 

 and cleavage exasperating. Each nut when cracked 

 would commonly go into four chief pieces, and each 

 piece required separate cracking. In due time small 

 bits of kernel extracted were found to be of good 

 flavor or poor, as the case might be. Some of the 

 nuts have a tough kernel and strong taste; others 

 have a tender, rich and deliciously flavored kernel. 

 The time came when cake bakers and confectioners 

 began to ask for black walnuts of the right sort, and 

 Mr. E. A. Riehl selected for propagation one variety 

 which he named the Thomas, the nuts of which 

 brought eight dollars per bushel in 1918. Some of 

 the trees yielded fourteen bushels each, and com- 

 paratively young trees at that. There are records 

 of yields of from thirty to forty-five bushels of un- 

 hulled nuts per tree from mature trees of this species. 

 For market purposes black walnuts are hulled while 

 yet green in color and dried quickly. This avoids 

 discoloration of the kernel, which occurs if dark 

 fluid from the moist hull finds its way through the 

 shell. By selection we now have several grafted 

 varieties of black walnuts, with fine quality and light 



