THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
;^;i8 
HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH WALNUT 
hy Hollister Sage 
C ULTIVATION of the English Walnut is not only 
one of the newest, hut one of the most rapidly 
growing industries in the United States; and of 
course the reason for this is readily traced to the fact 
that this country is producing only about one half 
enough of these nuts to supply the demand. 
The Persian Walnut, commonly called the Englisli 
Walnut, was named ‘^Nut of the Gods,” nineteen hun¬ 
dred years ago, hy the Romans, and by them was dis¬ 
tributed throughout Southern Europe, where descen¬ 
dants of those original trees are now standing—some of 
them more than a thousand years old—lasting monu- 
nuMits to the man who comiuered those countries. In 
liiany places those same trees are producing a large part 
of the total income; in truth the United States alone is 
iiiil)oiling more than live million dollars’ worth of nuts 
iiuio lliose trees every year, and about half a million dol¬ 
lars’ worth of their timber. English Walnut timber is 
very valuable, having a handsome grain and being un¬ 
usually heavy, so heavy, in fact, that the green wood will 
not boat in water. The wood is used in the manufac¬ 
ture of gunstocks and furniture, having a greater value 
than maliogany. Single trees have been known to sell 
for more than -$3,000. 
Realizing the importance of having a home supply of 
English Walnut trees, France passed a law in 1720 pro¬ 
hibiting the exportation of the timber. How well advised 
was this move may he appreciated now when it is known 
that the United Slates is importing yearly from Southern 
Fram e a large percentage of our total consumption of 
30,000,000 pounds of English Walnuts. 
ihe Romans did not neglect England; for as a result 
of ilieir invasion, many of these fine trees, hundreds of 
ye:iis old, are scattered along the roads and drives in 
t-eciy part of the islands. Some are nearly a hundred 
Icci h gh with a sjiread of more than a hundred feet and 
PeariUo thousands of nuts for their owners every year, 
vum tice is ic})orted to he more than a thousand years old 
ami to produce more than 100,000 nuts a year, being a 
chief factor in the support of five families. In England, 
by the way, it is customary to eat the fresh nuts, after the 
removal of the outer skin, with wine, the two dainties 
being served together. 
The Germans, also, were quick to discover the great 
intrinsic value to their country of these trees, and very 
early formed the habit of planting a young English Wal¬ 
nut tree to take the place of one which for any reason 
had been cut down. The Germans were also said to 
have promulgated in certain localities a law which re¬ 
quired every young farmer intent on marriage to show^ 
jiroof that he was the father of a stated number of Eng¬ 
lish Walnut trees. '• 
It is believed the first English Walnut tree in this 
country w as jilanted by Roger Morris in 1738 at what is 
now known as Washington Heights, New^ York City. 
George W ashington must have found that tiee in 1776. 
,lust one hundred years later, Norman Pomeroy, of Loclf- 
port, N. Y., father^of E. C. Pomeroy, of the English Wal¬ 
nut Farms, found a tree in Philadelphia, possibly a de¬ 
scendant of the original Morris tree. Mr. Pomeroy’s tree 
w-as loaded with an exceptionally fine variety of sw eet- 
tlavored nuts, thin-shelled and wdth a very full meat. 
That very tree, w ith Mr. Pomeroy’s help, w^as the progen¬ 
itor of all the English WTilnut groves in Western New' 
York, as well as of the many fruitful and ornamental 
trees now growfing in all parts of the north and east. 
Flxperts say there is no good reason why this country 
should not raise, at least, enough English Walnuts for 
our ow'ii needs, and even export a few' million dollars 
worth. WT' are now importing more dollars’ worth of 
these nuts than both Canada and the United States are 
exporting in apples—and this, too, w hen Canada and Iho 
United Stales are known as apple countries. 
California is pioducing about 12,000 tons a year. 
That State’s crop last year would have been more than 
13,000 tons had there not been three days of extremely 
hot weather about the middle of September, the ther¬ 
mometer registering 113 in many of the walnut sections. 
This torrid jieriod seriously burned about 2,200 tons of 
nuts, yet the crop realized more than three and a half 
million dollars. 
The California grow ers do not have the frosts to opeji 
the outer shucks w hie h we have here in the east, but they 
overcome this drawback in a great measure by irrigating 
a few' days before the nuts are ripe. They begin the 
harvest the last of Sejitember, gatliering the nuts which 
have fallen, drying them in trays for a few' days, then 
taking them to the Association packing houses, where 
they are bleached and sacked. The ^Association does 
the shipping and marketing, the grow'er gets his check 
on delivery at the warehouse. For there is no w'aste 
and the nuts are all sold before the harvest begins; in 
fact, often oversold. 
In some of the old missions of California there are 
English Walnut trees more than one hundred and forty 
years old, w ith trunks four feet in diameter. There eire 
many of these individual ancient trees throughout the 
state, but the oldest of the orchards are from thirty-five 
to forty years. Some of these trees have a spread of 
eighty feet or more and the growers consider that an 
English Walnut orchard w ill bear profitably for at least 
two hundred years. , 
If trees w ill do this in irrigated sections, they will live 
and grow' much longer in unirrigated places, for it is w'ell 
known that the roots of trees not irrigated go much deep¬ 
er into the sub-soil and get the moisture and nourishment 
w'hicli this suh-soil furnishes. The roots of irrigated 
trees remain nearer the surface and are not so long-lived. 
As an ornamental tree the English Walnut is unsur¬ 
passed. It has a light bark and dark green foliage 
w'bicli remains until late in the fall, being shed with the 
nuts in October and never during the summer. It also 
is an exceptionally clean tree and beautifully shaped, and 
so far as known, has never been preyed upon by the San 
Jose scale or any other insect pest. This freedom from 
scale is attributed to the peculiar alkali sap of the tree. 
