2 
The blossoms of fruit trees in general, like those of tho cherry, apple, pear, eto., are 
composed of a pistil and stamens; the pistil, or female sexual organ of the plant, occupy- 
ing the central portion of the blossom and heing connected ut its base directly with the 
young fruit. The stamens, or male sexual organs, are the numerous threads which sur- 
round the pistil, all having at the summit what is called the anther, which secretes that 
powdery substance known under the name of pollen, the use of the stamens being to fer- 
tilize the embryo of the seed contained at the base of the pistil, or the fruit proper. 
Thus blossoms that would happen to be only composed of a pistil could not mature their 
seed, which would drop off after a while, unless fertilized with the pollen of perfect blos- 
soms from other trees close by. 
With the walnut, the pistil and stamens, instead of being on the same blossoms, are 
perfectly distinct and on sepoiate blossoms. To render this description of walnut bloom- 
ing more comprehensible, we will accompany it with cuts representing pistiUate and stami- 
nate buds in a dormant state and also fully developed; and we will add that all these cuts 
were made by our engraver in San Francisco from specimens taken on our "Second Gen- 
eration Proeparturiens " bearing trees, and are all of natural size. Fig. 1 represents a spur 
or bearing wood of the walnut, thousands such spurs either single or composed of two or 
three little ramifications are found on large bearing trees; and, apropos, people will un- 
derstand why they should abstain from pruning walnut trees, if they do not wish to cut 
down their crop of nuts. A are the pistillate buds or catkins in a dormant state; they 
can well be recognized on any tree as so many little cones, the surface of which looks 
like that of a minute pineapple. These little cones show themselves on the trees early in 
the fall; and as soon as they appear on the trees, can such trees be said to have gone into 
regular bearing. B represents the pistillate bud, also in a dormant state; it grows only on 
wood of the year's growth, whether that wood be one line or six feet long. That bud in 
the spring develops into a bunch of nuts imbedded among several leaves. 0 represents 
a leaf bud; the upper one near the summit developing into a small spur from a few lines 
to one inch in length, and terminating with a pistillate bud like B, intended for the fol- 
lowing year's crop. 
Fig. 2 represents thestaminate or male blossoms of the walnut in full bloom; it is 
composed of over a hundred of very small flowers which secrete a great quantity of pollen, 
a fine yellow powdery substance that the wind scatters near and far, and in all directions; 
in this way young walnuts at a distance having only female blossoms or nuts on, have the 
latt^|uly fertilized, as it is the case with young Proeparturiens trees. Fig. 3 represents 
the pistillate or female blossoms of the walnut; they look like minute plumes on the top 
of the embryo nuts, the small leaves that surround the little flowers or nut having been 
cut ofif to enable the engraver to give a clear cut of the blossoms. Both staminate and 
pistillate flowers, as represented in figures 2 and 3, were grown on our large bearing Prco- 
parturiens, and show the size of the nuts at the time that the catkins are fully developed . 
No walnut tree not having any staminate buds or catkins, though showing female flowers 
or nuts, can be called properly a "bearing" tree. 
SHIELD BUDDING. 
Common shield budding, as is used with most all fruit tioos, fails entirely with small 
walnuts froi^^e to three year.s from the seed, and it does but seldom succeed even on 
larger stoclWInrbat mode of budding is more apt to succeed, however, on stock of the 
year's growth and of the size of the fore or middle finger, in fact, on any wood of the size 
represented in fig. 5, or larger, as long as it is of the year's growth. The shield of bark to 
be inserted should not be less than two inches in length, and as broad as possible, much 
like that represented in fig. i. In removing the shield of bark from the cion, one should 
be very careful not to disturb in the least the corculum, or little cork-like of soft matter, 
not liqueous yet, that connects the bud itself to the liber or wood along which the sap runs 
up. Would that little cork-like remain on the cion and leave a hollow back of the bud, 
the shield of bark would have to be thrown away as wortldeas, and another one taken 
from the cion with the corculum on. With walnut budding, no wood whatever should be 
left at the base of the bud inserted. An incision is then made lengthwise, and where two 
eyes are far apart and the wood smooth and round, as shown in fig. 5, through the bark of 
the stock and a cut at right angles at the top, a little longer than the shield of bark to be 
inserted, the whole resembling the letter T ; the edges of the bark, at the longitudinal in- 
cision in the stock, are raised half way around the stock with the spatula of the budding 
knife and the shield of bark pushed downward under the bark, being made to spread out 
well, so as to leave no hollow under the bud in ligaturing; it will be noticed on outs 4, 5 
and 6, that below and under the main bud is another little bud; it was placed there by na- 
ture to take the place of the bud proper, whenever anything happen to the latter, destroy- 
