BLACK WALNUT! ITS GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT. 39 



According to these figures there is a great difference in the yields 

 of walnut trees in different parts of the country. In the Prairie 

 States the yield is notably low, ranging from 3.3 pounds to the tree 

 in Kansas to 12 pounds in Illinois. Through the Lake States, the 

 Ohio Valley States, and the Eastern States the yield runs from 25 

 to 40 pounds, and in the Gulf States and the Carolinas it is reported 

 to be 50 to 90 pounds. These differences may not be clue so much 

 to climatic causes as would at first appear. The lowest yields are 

 from regions in which the most trees are reported and in which wal- 

 nut flourishes naturally. It is probable that in this region many of 

 the trees are of natural growth, in mixture with other hardwood 

 species that would tend to reduce the production. In the Gulf 

 States, in which the maximum yields are reported, the trees are 

 practically all planted. Furthermore, the reports are in all proba- 

 bility mostly from single trees planted in the open; and this would 

 account, in some measure at least, for the high yields. The prices 

 are much more uniform than the yield, indicating that they are 

 dependent not so much upon demand 1 as upon the minimum cost of 

 production and marketing. This cost ranges from 1 cent a pound 

 in Missouri to 2| cents in New York. In the New England States, 

 where walnut is not native, but is planted to a limited extent, the 

 prices are still somewhat higher than in New York. The maximum 

 income per tree, naturally therefore, comes from the region of great- 

 est yield of nuts per tree. The income and yield are both highest in 

 the South and lowest in the Prairie States. 



Of all the nut trees that may be planted, black walnut is probably 

 the best in all the region from Tennessee and western North Caro- 

 lina northward and eastward to the limits of the natural growth. 

 Even here, however, the nut-growing business is so unorganized that 

 it is difficult to say what value it has to the farmer. Certainly this 

 crop is not able to compete with general agricultural crops on the 

 high-class soils demanded for the growth of walnut at the present 

 time, in spite of the fact that the costs of labor in growing and 

 handling the crop are lower than the costs for handling agricultural 

 crops. 



The culture of black walnut is similar to that of pecan and English 

 walnut, which it resembles in soil and light requirements. Seedling 

 walnuts usually begin to bear at about 20 years of age and continue 

 in full vigor for a long period. Grafted trees usually begin to bear 

 much earlier, but it takes 10 or 12 years for the development of 

 sufficient crown to allow a heavy production of nuts. At present 

 there are several horticultural varieties in the market budded from 

 trees that have exceptionally good nuts for cracking, but there are 

 few bearing trees from such stock and it is difficult to forecast their 

 yields and value. 



