134 
THE NATIONALriNURSERYMAN 
NUT GROWING IN THE NORTHERN STATES 
C. A. REED 
With the exception of the chestnut, no species of native 
nut-bearing tree has become of prominent commercial 
importance as a cultivated product in that portion of the 
United States lying east of the Mississippi and north of the 
Ohio and Potomac Rivers. The growing of foreign nuts 
has attracted greater attention than has the development 
of the native species. Almost with the beginning of our 
national history, the culture of Persian walnuts attracted 
considerable attention throughout the East, especially in 
the States of the Middle and North Atlantic Coast. The 
European and Japan chestnuts, the European hazels and 
the Japan walnuts have since come into comsiderable promi¬ 
nence in the same area. 
Within the district so outlined, which comprises as it does 
practically the entire northeastern quarter of the United 
States, there are few sections of large extent to which some 
species of native or foreign origin has not already demon¬ 
strated its adaptability to the soil and climatic conditions, 
or to some other locality of approximately similar conditions. 
In order of importance, the species of native nut-bearing 
trees known to be suited to some portion of the area under 
discussion, the following list is probably not incorrect: 
The x\merican chestnut {Castanea dentata); the shagbark 
{Hicoria ovata); the American Black walnut {Juglans 
nigra); the butternut {Juglans cinerea); the pecan {Hicoria 
pecan); the shellbark {Hicoria laciniosa); and the hazels 
{Corylus Americana; Corylus rastrata). The American 
beechnut {Fagus atropunicea. Sudworth) naturally belongs 
to this list, but as it is probably not under cultivation as a 
nut tree at any place in the United States, it will not be 
discussed at this time. 
The principal foreign species which have been tried in the 
Northeastern States are: The European and Japanese 
chestnuts {Castanea sativa and C. Japonica); the Persian 
(English) walnut {Jiiglans regia); the Japanese walnuts 
{]. Sieboldiana, J. cordiformis, and J. mandshurica); the 
European hazels {Corylus avellana and C. tubtdosa). 
The American Chestnut {Castanea dentata, Marsh) 
Representatives of the American species of chestnut are 
found native to a large area. The species seems to evade 
extremes of temperature, cold, alkaline or acid soils, and an 
excess of moisture. It is apparently at its best in the sandy 
and coarse, gravelly soils of the uplands from lower New 
England to the southern extremity of the Piedmont Plateau 
in the East and from the extreme southern part of eastern 
Michigan to northern Mississippi on the West. 
Although the quality of the American chestnut is un¬ 
approached by most of the foreign species, comparatively 
little attention has been paid to its development, while 
considerable effort has been directed toward the introduction 
and cultivation of the large European and Asiatic species. 
Comparatively few varieties of the American species have 
been originated, and of these none have been widely dis¬ 
seminated. The one variety, which, because of its size, 
productiveness, and quality, has been extensively propagated 
and widely planted, is the Paragon. This variety originated 
at Germantown, Pa., and was introduced about 1888. It is 
believed to have originated from a seed grown from a nut 
obtained from a European seedling, then in one of the gardens 
of Philadelphia. This variety has been propagated very 
extensively both in the nursery and by grafting to native 
stumps and sprouts of cleared-over. forest lands. In the 
nursery it is now chiefly grafted to seedlings grown from 
Paragon nuts. This variety is both precocious and prolific. 
In a 25 acre orchard of young nursery grown trees planted 
near Boonville, Indiana, during the spring of 1910, nearly 
every tree set a number of burs during the same season. 
From two or three to from fifteen to seventeen burs had to 
be removed from each tree in order to prevent over-taxa¬ 
tion. 
Mr. Charles A. Green of Rochester, New York, Mr. E. A. 
Rhiel, of Alton, Illinois, and Mr. G. W. Endicott of Villa 
Ridge, Illinois, are the introducers of a number of improved 
varieties of the American sweet chestnut, illustrations and 
descriptions of which may be had upon application to these 
gentlemen. 
The extreme severity of the chestnut blight throughout 
the section where it has made its appearance, the rapidity 
with which it has spread since its discovery, and the present 
practical impossibility of keeping it under control, have put 
the future of the chestnut industry of this country very 
much in doubt. As has already been made clear during the 
present meeting, this disease has resulted in the entire 
destruction of thousands of forest and park chestnut trees 
in the sections where it has appeared, and as evidence of the 
further apprehension with which the chestnut blight is taken 
into account by the authorities familiar with it, it may be well 
to state that at the last meeting of the Pennsylvania State 
Legislature, the sum of $275,000 was appropriated for use in 
studying and combating this disease. Above every other 
question bearing upon the subject of chestnut culture, this 
disease is by far of the greatest importance to the prospective 
planter. 
The Shagbark Hickory {Hicoria ovata) 
This species is native to the greater portion of the area 
under discussion. It is not common north of southern Maine 
and is much less abundant than the chestnut in the lower 
New England and North Atlantic States. It is best adapted 
to regions of deep fertile soils well supplied with moisture, 
yet without standing water. It is very difficult to propagate 
by asexual methods and ordinarily requires from twelve to 
twenty years to bring it into commercial bearing. For these 
reasons, exceedingly few varieties have been called to public 
attention. The locations of several individual trees of 
superior merit to that of the average are now known and 
arrangements are being made for their early propagation. 
