Nut Trees The Linn County Nurseries 

The common pests of nut trees are the Walnut Caterpillar and Fall Web- 
worm. Either may entirely defoliate walnut or other trees in late summer. 
Spraying in mid-summer with arsenate of lead is an effective control. 
BLACK WALNUTS are very heavy feeders and do best in deep alluvial 
soil. They are generally quite unsatisfactory on poor upland soil. Well estab- 
lished trees may be given heavy applications of barnyard manure or other 
fertilizer judiciously applied and will yield larger better filled nuts because of it. 
Being native, Black Walnuts are hardy and well adapted to Mid-Western 
planting. Growth starts late in the spring and stops early in the fall so un- 
seasonable cold spells almost never injure them. The English or Persian Wal- 
nut differs in this respect and will grow too late in the fall if growing condition: 
are favorable and can then be severely frozen. None has been found which 
has really proven dependable here, and if they were, do not have the fine flavor 
of the Black Walnut and would be superior only in easier cracking. No other 
nut except the Hickory retains its flavor as well as the Black Walnut after 
heating, and their use is increasing in baking goods and confectionery. Con- 
sumers who have had nuts of the improved varieties appreciate their superiority 
and insist on having “Those walnuts which crack out in halves and quarters” 
and willingly pay double the price of common walnuts for them. 
The grafted kinds are also superior for landscape. planting being more 
thrifty and having larger, darker, glossy green foliage. 
Our Black Walnuts are grown from bench grafts on one year old seedlings 
made in late winter and started over thermostatically controlled electric heat- 
ing cable so as to be calloused and ready for field planting in May, thus re- 
quiring a minimum of attention during the busy spring season. Grown by this 
method, the graft union is well under ground and if the top of one is accident- 
ally broken or cut off, it will sprout up from above the union thus saving the 
variety. Where the union is above ground as it is in trees propagated by the 
usual method of grafting or budding, the variety would be lost in such a mis- 
hap, and only a seedling root remain. Bench grafted trees also are smoother 
having no scar where the scion or bud was inserted. 
Thomas is the best known and succeeds over a wide territory. Within the 
whole range of the Black Walnut only a few distant sections report another 
kind preferable to Thomas, and commercial plantings are mostly of it. The 
tree is hardy, very vigorous, productive, and a very young bearer, switches 
one year old often bearing the following season. The nuts are large, easily 
hulled and fairly thin-shelled. The kernels have fine flavor and color, easily 
crack out in halves and quarters, and the yield is ten pounds or more per bushel. 
Sizes, 5-6 ft., 4-5 ft., 3-4 ft., 2-3 ft. 
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