BLACK WALNUT! ITS GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT. 



37 



above. In the first place, the height and merchantable length will be 

 less, on account of the lack of close spacing in youth ; in the second 

 place,' the clear length will be less and the quality poorer and, there- 

 fore, the prices will be less ; and, in the third place, after about 30 or 

 40 years the diameter growth will be smaller, as the trees will have 

 begun to crowd each other, unless they were planted very far apart. 

 With an initial spacing of 6 by 16 feet, making about 450 trees to the 

 acre, a thinning will be necessary in about 30 years. Even if the stand 

 is not thinned at this time, the taller and more thrifty trees will prob- 

 ably have sufficient light to become merchantable, although they will 

 be inferior to trees that have had the proper care all their life. 



Open-grown trees or orchards planted for the sake of the nuts 

 will naturally have a more rapid growth in diameter, but will have 

 less clear length. The value of such open-grown stands will mani- 

 festly be incidental to the production of nuts (see "Production of 

 Nuts," p. 37). 



In the West, black walnut is planted to some extent on irrigated 

 land for windbreak and ornamental purposes as well as for the yield 

 of nuts. The logs are not likely to find a very ready sale, as the 

 freight rates to all mills that specialize on walnut are excessively 

 high, amounting to $50 a thousand board feet or more ; and it is un- 

 likely that the amount of timber in any one place will justify cutting 

 by local mills. Growth under these conditions is apparently very 

 much the same as in the prairie States. 



Two plantations offer the comparisons shown in Table 17, one being 

 a wide-spaced plantation in eastern Illinois, in which the trees are 6 

 by 16 feet apart, and the other a windbreak near Ogden, Utah. The 

 plantation in Illinois is located on a rise several hundred yards from 

 a stream, and, as there never was any natural tree growth on the area, 

 it is possible that the site is too dry for walnut. The soil is rich black 

 prairie loam. The spacing of the trees is very wide, and there is 

 little difference in diameter between marginal trees and those 

 within the stand. The plantation in Utah is situated along an irri- 

 gating ditch, in which water is flowing during practically the entire 

 growing season. 



Table 17. 





Age 



(years). 



Average 

 height 

 (feet). 



Diameter, breast high (inches). 





Average. 



Largest. 



Smallest. 





51 



52 



55 

 55 



12.8 

 12.1 



21.6 

 23.2 



7.0 

 3.5 



Utah.. 





PRODUCTION OF NUTS. 

 Although growing walnut for the sake of the nuts produced is a 

 matter of horticulture rather than of forestry, it is necessary to take 

 this source of income into consideration in dealing with this species 



