THE WALNUT POLLINATION. 11 



Through the continuous planting of the seed (as mentioned else- 

 where), without regard to the laws of nature, has come about the 

 degeneration of the species in many sections. Trees are frequently 

 reported as having "never borne nuts"; others "bloom profusely, but 

 are blooms of only one sex; the nuts have never set, and have become a 

 barren waste." This is a summary of the reports that have been con- 

 tinuously received for years past. In recent years more attention has 

 been paid to the morphology of the walnut, and it is now better under- 

 stood. 



* " I have a few trees of the ordinary ' English ' walnut. In 1878 the starainate 

 blossoms came out in the latter part of March ; they dropped off and perished on the 

 ground. About the 15th of April the pistillates made their appearance. The result was 

 the nuts dropped off. The next year the staminates made their appearance the 1st of 

 April ; they dropped off by the 10th, and between the 12th and the 15th the pistillates 

 made their first appearance. The result was I had no walnuts. The next year, 18S0, 1 

 found that the blossoming period came closer together, within a few days. About the 

 1st of April the staminate blossoms dropped off, and in a few days the pistillates began 

 to make their appearance. I looked over the trees and found a few stunted staminate 

 blossoms. I gathered them veiy carefully, and shook them over the trees. The result 

 was that every tree over which I distributed the pollen was laden with walnuts." 



Incidentally, I may mention that almond-growers were in a worse pre- 

 dicament, and in many sections the culture of the almond was abandoned. 

 The Languedoc, a variety first introduced, was found to produce an 

 extraordinarily large number of flowers of one sex, and few of the 

 other. The morphology of the almond was studied, with wonderful 

 results, and many of these same localities are again planted to the 

 almond, and are among the leading almond-growing sections of the 

 State. It was also found that by planting differetit varieties in an 

 orchard alternately, the pollen would intermix and aid in the setting of 

 the fruit. This, however, was done in many cases without studying 

 their blooming period, and consequently failure resulted. For instance, 

 seedling trees of the bitter almond were planted in the orchard, as they 

 were profuse bloomers, but the time of blooming was not considered. 

 Seedling trees of the bitter almond are among the first to bloom, and 

 put forth two weeks or more ahead of the standard varieties, so that 

 when the latter came into bloom the pollen of the bitter almond had 

 either been washed off by the early rains, or lost through other unfavor- 

 able conditions, preventing its action on the other flowers. In order to 

 accomplish the results aimed at, the varieties so intermixed must bloom 

 together, or nearly so. I know of no instance where this has been tried 

 on the walnut, but it is certainly worthy of trial, as it may tend to cor- 

 rect this curious phenomenon, prevalent among some of our walnut 

 orchards complained of, consisting of trees grown from seed. Of course, 

 with the almond the experiment was much easier, because, after testing 

 a certain variety, and its merits becoming fully known, they were repro- 

 duced by budding. The long period required by the walnut to come 

 into bearing was a bar to any experiments in this line, and it was grown 

 from the seed almost altogether. But this is no longer so. Fruit cul- 

 ture has reached the height of perfection, and is now being conducted 

 on broad lines and scientific principles. Inferior seedlings are giving 

 way to grafted and budded trees of the choicest kinds, or to see'dlings of 

 choice selection; their habits are studied, and the novice or the grower 

 does not have to wait and undergo years of toil and anxiety to acquire 



*W. H. Jessup, of Haywards, in essay read before State Horticultural Society, April 

 27, 1883. 



