12 
J. F. JONES, LANCASTER, PA. 
will continue to bear good crops of nuts without any further attention to soil 
fertility, at least for a number of years. 
Mr. E. A. Riehl, the noted Illinois nut and fruit grower, has a number of 
Thomas black walnut trees in bearing and wrote me in Dec. 1915 that he had 
sold all of his Thomas kernels at 80c per lb. wholesale, and as he got 10 lbs. of 
kernels to the bushel of nuts, he considered their growing very profitable. 
Later, Mr. Riehl wrote me that if he was a younger man he would plant at least 
1000 grafted Thomas black walnut trees, as he considered their growing the 
best proposition that he knew of. Since this correspondence with Mr. Riehl 
nuts and nut kernels have nearly doubled in price. It does not require a large 
black walnut tree to bear a bushel of nuts, and I would expect them to do this 
at eight to ten years of age. 
How to Succeed with Nut Trees 
Because we see the black walnut, the pecan and the hickories growing in a 
wild or natural state, and occasionally bearing good crops of nuts, under ad¬ 
verse conditions, some people seem to think that these trees do not require 
any care or attention. While this is true as regards the trees when established, 
at least if they are planted on good land, the young trees should have some at¬ 
tention till they arc established. When the trees are poorly planted on old, 
worn out land, and left to shift for themselves, failure will be the result, and 
the same is true of any other tree or trees. The principal requirements for 
success with nut trees is soil fertility. The nut tree is a natural engine of pro¬ 
duction and, with the help of sunlight and moisture, can turn the crude soil 
salts and fertility into a finished and highly concentrated food product, but we 
cannot expect the tree to produce large or regular crops unless the soil fertility 
is kept up, any more than we can expect the gas engine to run without gas or 
oil. However, it is not necessary or even advisable to delay the planting of 
the nut orchard because the land to be planted is not fertile. By using some 
good fertilizer such as bone meal or tankage, mixed with the soil around the 
roots in planting the trees, we can supply the fertility necessary for good tree 
growth at once, and very cheaply, as two or three quarts of this material is 
sufficient for average size trees, and by mulching the ground lightly around the 
trees with stable manure, grass, straw, leaves or other material, sufficient mois¬ 
ture can be maintained for good tree growth without cultivating the land. This 
annual mulch, rotting on the surface, quickly builds up the soil about the tree, 
and by growing Sweet Clover or other legumes the land can be built up to a 
high state of fertility with very little expense and while the trees are growing. 
Nut trees do not require cultivation and, being planted 40 to 50 feet apart, in 
orchard form, the young trees use only a small portion of the area for several 
years, and this gives ample time and opportunity to build up the soil in a natur¬ 
al way, and at the same time no time is lost in bringing the orchard forward. 
When these trees are planted on good farm land, one can continue to crop the 
land for several years if desired, and the distance given the nut trees in orchard 
form makes them little in the way of cultivating farm or truck crops for several 
years. 
I mention Sweet Clover especially in connection with soil improvement, 
because, in my experience, it is the only legume that does well on old worn out 
or gullied fields. Sweet Clover is really a wonderful plant, as it not only takes 
well on poor, worn soils, but it will grow 6 or 8 feet tall. The unhulled seed 
is the best to use. We sow this at the rate of one-half bushel to the acre, right 
on the hard ground, without any preparation whatever, with excellent resuls. 
The Pecan 
BUSSERON. From Knox Co., Ind. Considered one of the best of the 
Indiana pecans, and one of the most reliable. Nut large, long, and of fine ap¬ 
pearance. The original tree has a great bearing record and the variety is one 
of the safest and best. 
