NEWS BULLETIN AND PRICE LIST *°! 
SUNNY RIDGE NURSERY, JANUARY, 1944 
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THEY DO BEAR NUTS! f hi 
- Do you want to buy a chestnut tree no taller than you “are which ‘has al- 
ready produced nuts? We have those trees! a: int 6 ey, 
Here are passages from unsolicited letters. 
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“Red Bank, N. J., Oct. 8, 1941 — On April 17, 1989, we bought’ two chestnut 
trees from you which are bearing fruit this year, and we like them’ very much. 
We would like to obtain more.” > wa Pea, ORs NUE IF Co | 
Another customer writes, 9/27/41, Hancock, Md. — “One 6fmy: greatest joys 
was to pick up five chestnuts under your Chinese chestnut tree ;*a, squirrel beat 
me to three nuts.” _ | ian iin Ss 
; Those trees were planted in 1941, but were unusually precocious. You may. 
expect our chestnut trees to bear sooner than apples if given as good care as.the 
apple requires. | Hie 
THE THRILL OF GATHERING NUTS 
I fully understand the thrill of these two middle aged professional men at 
picking up chestnuts. Ripening chestnuts are beautiful things. It thrills me to 
walk through the nursery in September and October and see the glossy brown 
nuts peeping out of opening burrs and to find nice nuts on the ground. 
My satisfaction at this has no relation to such earthly matters as eating. 
Nut trees are fun, as well as food supply. They give you a sense of achievement 
when you see them produce their nuggets of nutrition. 
I gave two seedling trees to one of my suburban neighbors some years ago. 
Now you would almost think he was a bantam rooster to hear him crowing 
about the chestnuts he gets. He has a lot of fun giving nuts to his friends. And 
incidentally he sends his friends to me to buy trees so that they too may join 
the group of the sentimentally elect. : 
WAR AND ACTS OF GOD 
Perhaps you have read one of those insurance policies which exempts the 
company from responsibility from acts of war and acts of God. Unfortunately 
there is no such protective umbrella over the heads of nurserymen, particularly 
nut tree nurserymen. 
We have been struck by both war and acts of God. 
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War has increased: the cost of our materials and supplies, made some un- 
available. | 
War just exactly doubled the rate of day’s wages for workmen in the last 30 
months, and worse than that, it has materially reduced the available supply. 
War has cyt off our sources of seed for some important varieties. 
The act of God aspect of the matter showed up in the form of a drought in 
the summer of 1943 which greatly reduced the catch of our spring grafting and 
kept the trees from making half of the expected growth. It also killed thousands 
of late transplanted seedlings because we could not water them. Labor shortage 
kept us from planting them at the right time. ‘ 
For these and other reasons we are in something that approaches a nut tree 
famine. Our stocks are low and in some lines already sold out. Send in your 
orders as early as you can. You will get trees or your money back. 
CUTTING BACK 
- Nut trees have prodigious roots—roots that are long and not fibrous. We 
have to cut away some of this long root before we send your trees. To plant a 
tree with only part of its roots and all of its top is to invite early death. There- 
fore we cut the tops back to establish balance and to help insure the success of 
transplanting. Therefore you need not expect the trees to be very handsome on 
arrival, but wait until growth begins.and then admire and when the nuts begin 
you will rejoice. — 
WAXED TRUNKS 
We wax the trunk with a special and expensive wax, to reduce evaporation. 
The price of this unguent has jumped to 3 dollars a gallon but we keep on using 
it. We think it increases the chance of survival. 
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