20 



THIRTY-FOURTH FRUIT-GROWERS ' CONVENTION. 



J. J. Warner, and in 1848 F. E. Kellogg, Sr., planted a small orchard 

 at Calistoga, in the upper part of Napa Valley. J. R. Congdon planted 

 an orchard at Capistrano in 1869. H. K. Snow and P. T. Adams 

 planted the first walnut grove in the vicinity of Tustin and Santa Ana 

 in 1879. The planting was an orchard of eight acres, w^hich was 

 characterized as a rash adventure by the neighbors, but the soundness 

 of their judgment is shown by the fact that the orchard is one of the 

 best producers in the valle^^ after more than one third of a century has 

 passed. These early plantings were all of hardshells. A few years 

 . later some additional acreage was planted by Snow and Adams until 15 

 acres were in one plot. The trees were planted too closety, and ten 

 years ago they began to take out alternate trees. The orchard has been 

 abundantly fertilized lately with stable manure, and the production 

 last year was 25,800 pounds. 



The softshell walnut originated in Santa Barbara County, on the farm 

 of Joseph Sexton, and came into notice in 1880. It is supposed to have 

 been the result of cross-pollination between hardshell and papershell 

 walnuts, but is more likely to have been a seedling of the hardshell, 

 showing one of the many changes that may be expected of seedlings. 

 Softshell walnuts soon became popular and have been planted exclu- 

 sively for the past twenty years under the name of Santa Barbara soft- 

 shells, but this term does not mean any particular variety and includes 

 all seedling softshell walnuts generally found in the market. 



There are but few walnut groves of commercial importance north of 

 Santa Barbara County, though there are some small orchards in the 

 Sacramento Valley and several small areas in Santa Clara County and 

 near Santa Rosa. The walnut trees of the northern part of- the State 

 are mostly of the French varieties, and largely of Franquette, as it has 

 proven the most productive in that district, though not equally success- 

 ful in the southern counties. 



Large plantings of grafted and Imdded Avalnuts have been made in 

 the southern counties within the last ten years, and almost the entire 

 planting of the northern counties are grafted trees. The variety mostly 

 propagated in the south is known as the Placentia Perfection, and 

 originated in the Placentia district of Orange County about eighteen 

 years ago. This is a vigorous, upright growing tree, which produces 

 large smooth nuts that hull freely and are well filled with white meat, 

 but while it gives better returns, both in price and production, than the 

 average seedling softshell it will sometimes lose half its crop by blight. 



The stocks used for grafting and budding have been largely seedlings 

 softshell in the south, while that used in the north has been mostly 

 native black walnut, and very frequently these are not grafted until ten 

 to fifteen years old. 



Walnuts should be planted only on good, deep soil, not underlaid by 

 hardpan, nor where the water will stand on the surface. A deep, sandy 

 loam is to be preferred, but walnuts will do well on the heavi^ soils that 

 are free from alkali. Good drainage is always necessary, as well as 

 freedom from late frosts and a comparative cool climate. The greater 

 part of the orchard planting has been 40 feet apart. This is too close on 

 good land and better results can be had by planting 50 feet apart, while 

 60 feet is not too far in some cases. The planting is generally done with 

 the object of getting a large number of trees to t'he acre instead of get- 



