THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
131 
(Knglisli) walnut and tho almond stand scrond and third, 
rospectividy, the peean, wliieh is an Aineriean sjKH'ies 
only, l»('ing lii'st. With th(‘S(‘ exe(‘ptions, the foiadgn in- 
troduetions are all in the expc'riinenlal or test stage, and 
while j)ossihly the I]tiropean hazel (tilherl) may now l)e 
making a strong hid for eonunereial recognition in tin* 
northw est, and the pistaehe in ])arts of (iaiifornia, neither 
species can yet be recommended for general plaiding. 
With the exception of a few hardshell vari(di(‘s of al¬ 
monds wliicli are i)ractically as hardy as the j)each and 
w Inch are suitable only for home |)lanling, as they art' in 
no way to be compared with the almond of commerce, 
there is now no indication that this s})ecies is destined 
('ver to become of commercial importance east of the 
Kocky Mountains. 
The Persian or so-called English w abiut is of commer¬ 
cial importance in this country only in the far Western 
States. In the South, it has thus far failed altogether. 
In the North and East it has held out gleams of hope, first 
bright then dull, for more than a century. There is no 
way of telling the number of trees of this s})ecies which 
have been planted in the northeastern section of this 
country hut let us imagine it to have been 60,000. Of 
these fully 50 per cent, have succumbed to climatic con¬ 
ditions; 25 per cent, have been hut semi-hardy, and pos¬ 
sibly 25 per cent, have attained the hearing age. A part 
of each of the last two classes have borne crops of com¬ 
mercial size for a number of years. Some have produced 
nuts of good size and quality. A great many of all those 
surviving are now^ proving susceptible to a walnut blight 
upon wdiicli Mr. McMurran is to re])ort. 
A liberal estimate of the present number of Persian 
w alnuts in this part of the country would he 10 per cent, 
of the original supposed 60,000 or 6,000 trees. Of these, 
the w l iter has positive knowledge of none w hich are now 
hearing crops of nuts in such quantity, and of such size 
and quality and w ith such regularity and w hich have so 
borne for such length of time as to encourage commercial 
})lanting. Few' of the Eastern grown nuts are so free 
from tannin as to he really pleasing to the taste or favor¬ 
ably comparable w ith the best nuts of the market. The 
w riter is now closely w atching the best known varieties 
which the nurseries are jiutting out, hut at the present 
time there is no variety which in his judgment should he 
commercially ])lanted w ithout further testing. 
The proper place for such partially improved species, 
as are most of the nut producers hardy in this section at 
the present time, is that in which they may he used for 
more than the single ])urpose of nut jiroduction. Most of 
the species of the botanical family Jiujlandacene to w hich 
the w alnuts and hickories belong, are slow gi’owers, and 
as such, are ohjectionahle to the average planter. In 
answ^er to this, it may he said that among trees, slow ness 
of growth is invariably associated with longevity of tree 
and its value w hen cut as timber. Also, w hen due pains 
are taken, it is ])ossihle to select species which are ex¬ 
ceedingly satisfactoiy in the landscape. Several of the 
slides which are to follow' illustrate the individual beauty 
of selected nut trees and some show' their elTective use in 
the laudscape. 
Foresters ar(‘ now advocating the planting of trees in 
waste places in the country, especially about the faini 
buildings. There, are, perhaps, no conspicuous waste 
places w ith a gi(‘al(M’ aggr<‘gal(‘ arc'a than tin' sh ips along 
the public highway. In (MM'lain for(Mgn counli'i(‘s, thesis 
strips ai‘(‘ plant(‘d to fruit tr(‘(‘s and lh(‘ right to hajv<‘st 
awai’ded to tlu' higlu'st hidch'r. The r(‘V(‘nu(‘ so ohlaiiu'd 
go(‘s a long way toward kca'ping tin* highways in good 
condition. It is possihh* that this pi‘actic(‘ may soim* time 
h(‘ introduced into tin* Unil('d State's, hut until |)uhlic 
opinion is radically change'd, llu' planting of fruit tre'e's 
along th(' highways can not h(‘ expe'ctc'd to yie'ld any sat¬ 
isfactoiy r('turns to tiu' jiuhlie*. Tin* ('xp(‘ri('nc(' of Dr. 
Morris who jilante'd clH'iry lr(‘{'s along tlu' public road 
past his farm in (iOmu'cticut, w lu're' w (' have* just h(‘('n. is 
tyjiical of what uiuh'r jue'se'ut conditions might he* (‘x- 
pected in any part of tlie countly. When tin' clu'irie's 
were ripe, automohih* partie's come' for many nuh's to 
j)ick the fruit, and w hen that in the highway w as gone', 
the clu'ii'ies from the neai'hy oiohai’d w(‘i(‘ take'ii. In 
both cases, the branches were broken down and the tioe's 
left in a badly mangled condition. Dr. Morris tiu'ri tri(*d 
nursery-grown and exjiensive evergreens, Iml on Sun¬ 
days, automobile parties came again with spades and 
shovels and dug up the trees. 
The ratio of population to tillahh' land in this country 
is not such that, for a long tiim* to come, the American 
peojile, as a whole, will he pressed into using the high¬ 
way land for the production of crojis, or into resiiecting 
the right of the public to harvest such crops as might he 
grown in its highways. Therefore, for the jiresent, ex¬ 
cept ill densely pojmlated or in more than ordinarily well 
regulated communities, it would he useless to advocate 
the ])lanting of ordinary fruit trees along tlu' public road¬ 
ways. 
Irrespective of the jiossihle value of their crops, fruit 
ti'ees of most species are both too small and too short-lived 
to he suitable for highway planting. With nut trees, the 
situation is entirely ditferent. The native walnuts, most 
species of hickories and the American beech are large- 
growing and long-lived trees. In addition, they are cap¬ 
able of w ithstanding severe temjieratures; they are tough 
and strong and not liable to injury by storm or w bile be¬ 
ing climbed by ordinary persons; and they readily adapt 
themselves to a w ide range of soil, moisture, and climatic 
conditions. 
Ordinary species of nut trei's cannot he ri'comnK'iided 
for the dual jmrpose of timber and nut j)roductiou, as. foi’ 
the former ])ur|)ose. the trees should he planted close to¬ 
gether in order to induce length and straightness of trunk 
w ith a minimum of top or hearing surfaci', while for the 
latter, tlu'y should he jilanted in the ojien and given sjiaci' 
for the maximum developim'iit to hearing surface and a 
minimum length of truid\. TIu' gi't'at (h'lnand for hickory 
in the making of axles, wheels and otlu'r vi'hich' [larts 
and handles for tools, and for walnut in the manufacture' 
of furnituri' and gun stocks makes it not only |)ossihl(* 
hut common practice to use these' weeeeels in sheert lengths. 
There'lore', both spe'cies plaideel aleeng the' highways anel 
in eether waste place's might preetitahly he ceenverte'el inte) 
timber upeen re'aching maturity, if the'ir creejes eef nuts 
sheeulel preeve te) he' e)f small ceemmeivial value'. 
The butternut. ./. cinerea. is a h'ss symme'trical greewe'r 
than are the black walnuts. The' timhe'i' is h'ss valuable' 
anel the' nuts are cracke'el w ith givater elitliculty. Ne've'r- 
theless, it is the most harely of any native species e)f Jiiy- 
