November, 1913 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



141 



stunt the tree for years. Trees with long 

 tap roots are the slowest to recuperate 

 from any damage done by mishandling. 



It is no uncommon thing for trans- 

 planted nut trees to "stand still" for sev- 

 eral years after having been set, occasion- 

 ing a loss in time that no man can afford. 

 In the case of young grafted pecans, which 

 are sold by the thousands from nursery 

 rows, the tap roots are generally severed 

 with a sharp spade while the seedlings are 

 growing, whereupon great masses of fibrous 

 roots to supply the trees' urgent need are 

 put out. Such an operation renders later 

 transplanting easy and safe. 



In planting a plantation of black wal- 

 nuts, chiefly for timber purposes, the nuts 

 may be set as close as eight feet; for it is 

 well known that all trees 

 attain a straighter and 

 taller growth if they are 

 pushed by others adjacent 

 to them. By this method, 

 about two hundred trees 

 can be set on an acre. 

 The expense amounts to 

 nothing except the cost 

 of the land. They can be 

 set out in forest form, 

 and then gradually 

 cleared for post, stake, 

 and timber purposes, 

 with the idea of eventu- 

 ally leaving trees for com- 

 bined nut and timber 

 purposes. Under these 

 circumstances, the trees 

 which are left will have 

 the combined value of the 

 long trunk and high head 

 which does not shade sur- 

 rounding land too much. 



The nuts should be 

 planted in the fall, being 

 set in holes about four 

 inches deep. The soil 

 filled in on them should be 

 firmly tramped down. 

 As the young trees devel- 

 op, they should be judi- 

 ciously trimmed, after 

 they have put out four 

 or more limbs, with a 

 view to developing long 

 straight boles, fit for fine 

 timber. The proximity 

 of their planting will help 

 to keep them from form- 

 ing low-spreading habits 

 of branching. Growers 

 of white pine for timber 

 purposes set the trees as 

 close as three feet, so that 

 as they develop, the low- 

 er limbs are smothered 

 out, and the trees may be 

 said to " trim themselves." 



In eight or nine years 

 from the actual time of 

 planting, the trees will 

 come into bearing; and 

 from that time on they 



will bear with remarkable regularity crops 

 which increase in size until they have 

 reached the maturity of growth, though 

 they are likely to alternate (like most 

 trees) light and heavy crops. These nuts 

 will represent a certain commercial value 

 which is too often disregarded by the owner 

 of the trees. The average man thinks 

 it hardly worth while to gather more wal- 

 nuts than are needed for home consump- 

 tion, but to the man who has easy access to 

 an abundant supply, it is certainly worth 

 his time to gather the nuts in the fall, and, 

 when their hulls have become dry enough 

 to be threshed off, to dispose of them in 

 the market. 



A single tree will bear all the way from 

 a handful of shelled nuts to several 



Fine type of the vase-shaped black walnut tree. This specimen at 

 ground is 9 ft. 2 in. in circumference. The black walnut grows on 

 profitable for its crop of nuts and for its timber 



bushels of the same. On the general 

 average, a tree will yield a half-bushel each 

 year; or about a hundred bushels on the 

 acre, worth at least $50 — no mean price 

 to be realized for a crop that costs nothing 

 to grow it and that represents an invest- 

 ment that is yearly increasing in value. 

 Large black walnut trees, not in competi- 

 tion with surrounding trees, sometimes 

 bear more than 20 bushels to a tree. 



The wood of the black walnut is one of 

 the finest and most prized of American 

 hardwoods. Considering its grain and 

 texture, as well as its hardness, durability, 

 and willingness to take a high polish, the 

 walnut is really a rapid grower. More- 

 over, it is a consistent grower, seldom suf- 

 fering any set-backs or retardings of 

 growth to which most 

 ordinary trees are liable, 

 except under the most 

 extraordinarily unfavor- 

 able conditions. Plung- 

 ing its tap roots and its 

 marvelously long lateral 

 roots deep and wide, its 

 source of food supply is 

 far-drawn and plentiful. 

 Because of the com- 

 paratively low value of 

 the nuts, very little atten- 

 tion has so far been paid 

 to improving the quality. 

 The few attempts in this 

 direction have been almost 

 solely by selecting and 

 planting large nuts; 

 which, in the case of a 

 tree like the walnut, 

 amounts to practically 

 nothing. It is possible to 

 improve results by annu- 

 lar budding and by tongue 

 grafting, the former giv- 

 ing the better results. It 

 is thus possible to im- 

 prove the nut orchard by 

 grafting the trees to some 

 one or more varieties of 

 superior character. The 

 grafting or budding of a 

 nut tree requires an ex- 

 ceptional degree of judg- 

 ment, patience, and skill; 

 in comparison the grafting 

 of fruit trees is elemental 

 in its simplicity. 



After the pecan (and 

 possibly the English wal- 

 nut), the black walnut is 

 second to no tree as an 

 asset on the land. If its 

 product is less valuable 

 than that of a fruit tree, 

 its timber is far more so. 

 There are other nut trees 

 now being introduced and 

 developed which may 

 eventually rival the black 

 walnut in value; but at 

 least this tree has proved 

 its worth. 



four feet from the 

 most soils, and is 



