40 BULLETIN 933, I T . S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Trees planted to the north of the natural range of black walnut 

 bear small numbers of nuts, and the size is below normal, although 

 the quality is reported to be as good as farther south. It has been 

 the experience in England that this kind of nuts give rise to weak 

 seedlings and should not be used for propagation purposes. 



ESTABLISHING WALNUT PLANTATIONS. 



METHODS OF PLANTING. 



Walnut may be grown successfully either directly from the nuts 

 sown where the plantation is to be made or from young nursery stock. 

 Growing walnut directly from nuts is naturally much the cheaper 

 method. The nuts may usually be gathered at siniply the cost of the 

 labor. They could be bought, even on the retail market in 1918, for 

 7 cents a pound, or approximately $2.50 for 1,000 nuts. One-year-old 

 seedlings from a nursery would, on the other hand, cost $15 to $20 a 

 thousand. The proportion of nuts failing to germinate would usu- 

 ally be about equal to the first year's loss with nursen'' stock. On this 

 score there is, therefore, no advantage in the more expensive stock. 

 In starting the stand from nuts the chief danger has been that, as 

 planting is usually done in the fall, the nuts would be destroyed by 

 rodents during the winter. If squirrels and mice are not plentiful, 

 however, this is the cheapest and simplest method. 



The nuts are gathered in the fall after they have dropped naturally 

 from the trees, and may be planted immediately, before the ground 

 freezes, without being shucked. They should be placed in shallow 

 holes made with a mattock, so that they will lie about an inch and a 

 half deep. "When, as will often be the case, the planting is in sod, it 

 may be facilitated by first plowing furrows, in which the nuts may 

 be planted at regular intervals. This also permits a better early de- 

 velopment of the seedling by freeing it from competition with weeds 

 and grass. If plowing is not practicable, the sod should be removed 

 with a spade or mattock for a foot about the spot where the nut is 

 l^lanted. To insure a full stand of seedlings from the beginning, it is 

 best to plant two nuts in each hole, for some of the nuts planted will 

 not germinate at all and some not until the second } 7 ear. If the nuts 

 are of usual quality, however, 80 per cent will germinate within two 

 years, and a great number of spots will have two trees in them. By 

 the third or fourth year, when the seedlings are well established, even 

 if both appear vigorous and of equal development, they must without 

 fail be reduced to one tree to the spot, or the thrift of the trees will 

 soon suffer. 



If there is danger from rodents, or if it is desired to allow hogs 

 to run on the planting site during the fall and winter, the nuts may 

 be planted successfully in the spring. Spring planting requires more 



