BLACK WALNUT! ITS GROWTH AND MANAGEMENT. 39 
According to these figures there is a great difference in the yields 
of walnut trees in different parts of the country. In the Prairie 
States the yield is notably low, ranging from 3.3 pounds to the tree 
in Kansas to 12 pounds in Illinois. Through the Lake States, the 
Ohio Valley States, and the Eastern States the yield runs from 25 
to 40 pounds, and in the Gulf States and the Carolinas it is reported 
to be 50 to 90 pounds. These differences may not be due so much 
to climatic causes as would at first appear. The lowest yields are 
from regions in which the most trees are reported and in which wal- 
nut flourishes naturally. It is probable that in this region many of 
the trees are of natural growth, in mixture with other hardwood 
species that would tend to reduce the production. In the Gulf 
States, in which the maximum yields are reported, the trees are 
practically all planted. Furthermore, the reports are in all proba- 
bility mostly from single trees planted in the open; and this would 
account, in some measure at least, for the high yields. The prices 
are much more uniform than the yield, indicating that they are 
dependent not so much upon demand as upon. the minimum cost of 
production and marketing. This cost ranges from 1 cent a pound 
in Missouri to 2 \ cents in New York. In the New England States, 
where walnut is not native, but is planted to a limited extent, the 
prices are still somewhat higher than in New York. The maximum 
income per tree, naturally therefore, comes from the region of great- 
est yield of nuts per tree. The income and yield are both highest in 
the South and lowest in the Prairie States. 
Of all the nut trees that may be planted, black walnut is probably 
the best in all the region from Tennessee and western North Caro- 
lina northward and eastward to the limits of the natural growth. 
Even here, however, the nut-growing business is so unorganized that 
it is difficult to say what value it has to the farmer. Certainly this 
crop is not able to compete with general agricultural crops on the 
high-class soils demanded for the growth of walnut at the present 
time, in spite of the fact that the costs of labor in growing and 
handling the crop are lower than the costs for handling agricultural 
crops. . 
The culture of black walnut is similar to that of pecan and English 
walnut, which it resembles in soil and light requirements. Seedling 
walnuts usually begin to bear at about 20 years of age and continue 
in full vigor for a long period. Grafted trees usually begin to bear 
much earlier, but it takes 10 or 12 years for the development of 
sufficient crown to allow a heavy production of nuts. At present 
there are several horticultural varieties in the market budded from 
trees that have exceptionally good nuts for cracking, but there are 
few bearing trees from such stock and it is difficult to forecast their 
yields and value. 
