NOTES ON THE CARPATHIAN WALNUT 
Given at the twenty-ninth annual meeting 
of the Northern Nut Growers’ Association 
held at Horticultural Hall, Boston, Mass. 
Sept. 12 and 13, 1938, 
The English or, more correctly, the 
Persian walnuts of the Carpathian Moun- 
tains of northern Europe introduced by 
Rev. Paul C. Crath of Canada have now 
been planted in an experimental way in 
America for a number of years. A report 
on their behavior may be of interest to 
those who are looking forward to the day 
when orchards of nut trees in the North 
will be found worthy to take a place be- 
side established orchards of fruit of other 
kinds. 
Our experience with them goes back six 
years when Rev. Crath sent us a few 
quarts of nuts from Poland. The seed- 
lings produced by these nuts were just 
in time to be severely tested by the record 
winter of 1933-34. They showed little 
injury that year nor during the years that 
have followed although they have never 
been given winter protection. 
The first plantings of Crath Carpathian 
walnuts in America began in a small way 
about 1923 and some have been planted 
nearly every year since. Mr. Crath made 
his early importations primarily to test this 
strain of Persian walnut for adaptabilty to 
American climatic conditions. The first 
seed nuts were secured from a few trees 
growing in the gardens of his Carpath- 
ian friends. These trees, although pro- 
ducing fairly good nuts, did not measure 
up to the careful selections which he be- 
gan making in 1934, and has continued to 
make since, of trees bearing superior 
nuts growing where the conditions were 
favorable for self pollination. 
For the past two years, we have acted 
as United States distributor for these 
trees and consequently have been in a 
position to check on their behavior. Seed 
from the best trees producing the best 
crops of the finest nuts located by Rev. 
Crath in the Carpathian Mountains is 
planted in his private nursery near Tor- 
onto. The little trees are shipped to us 
in the autumn of their second year packed 
in sphagnum with no earth on the roots. 
We heel them in and set them out in 
nursery rows the following May where 
they are grown an additional year before 
being offered for sale. Our nursery is 
located on a plateau at about 1,500 feet 
elevation where the climate is not temp- 
ered by nearness to any large body of 
water. 
As to the planting of untested seedlings, 
it has been found that seedlings which 
are grown from the nuts of Persian wal- 
nut trees that are standing by themselves, 
and consequently are largely self-pollin- 
ated, usually bear nuts which are quite 
similar to those of the parent tree. This 
does not hold true of many species of 
fruit trees such as the pear and the apple. 
The seed walnuts from the Carpathians 
that Mr. Crath selects for his own plant- 
ing are not only from trees bearing 
superior nuts but are, so far as possible, 
from self-pollinated trees. The planter 
of these seedlings has a good chance to 
SAMUEL H. GRAHAM, Ithaca, New York 
get trees which will bear nuts that closely 
resemble those of the parent and, in any 
event, nuts of real value. In addition, 
there is always the possibility of getting 
something even better than the original. 
Our experience has been that they are 
easy to transplant. In May 1937 we set 
out 712 and all lived and grew well ex- 
cept seven, while in May 1938 we set 
892 and all lived and are growing well 
except four. We have also transplanted 
four year old trees with nearly 1007 
success. This is better than we have been 
able to do with ornamental evergreens, 
apples, peaches, cherries, plums, filberts, 
chestnuts or black walnuts. Of the 676 
Crath trees which we have shipped to 
points all over the United States, practi- 
cally all have lived so far as we have 
been able to learn. 
We believe in thorough tamping of the 
earth around the roots, the use of plenty 
of ground limestone if the soil is not 
already well supplied with lime, and in 
using no water until the earth is all filled 
in and tamped when we water suffi- 
ciently to penetrate to the deepest rcots. 
No roots are cut back except the ends of 
the tap roots but the tops are cut back at 
least one-half. 
The Crath trees stand shipment well. 
In April 1938 we shipped three trees to 
California by parcel post. In about ten 
days a letter came from the California 
Commissioner of Agriculture stating that 
they were refusing all trees from the 
East because of fear of introducing the 
insect known as the pecan case-bearer. 
As we are far north of the pecan belt 
we felt that the danger to California was 
not very great. However we mailed the 
return postage. After being away sev- 
eral weeks, not packed with the thought 
of their being so long in transit, they 
came home after their six thousand mile 
trip. The leaves had expanded due to 
the high temperature to which they had 
been exposed for such a long period. They 
were reset and have made such a fine 
growth that a visitor who recently saw 
them in our nursery ordered them especi- 
ally to be shipped to him this fall. 
The secretary of the Massachusetts 
Horticultural Society, in his address to 
us yesterday, spoke of the large number 
of inquiries they are receiving from 
people wanting trees that will be both 
useful and ornamental. The Crath trees 
surely have a real place in this connec- 
tion for they combine the production of 
valuable nuts with attractive, light-col- 
ored bark and rich, dark green foliage 
that is held until quite late in the fall. 
Numerous letters have been received 
from widely separated sections of Amer- 
ica from those who have bought these 
trees expressing satisfaction over their 
rapid growth and attractive foliage. In 
the north at the government experimen- 
tal farm at Ottawa, Canada, there are 
two hundred four-year-old Crath trees 
that have survived their winters so far. 
Ottawa is about as cold in winter as 
southern Manitoba. A report Aug. 13, 
1938 from thirteen trees shipped the pre- 
vious year to Dr. J. H. Nauerth of Lake- 
field, Minn., states that every tree lived 


and has made a splendid growth this 
summer. 
In the middle west some Crath trees 
were sent out several years ago by the 
Wisconsin Horticultural Society. The 
secretary of this society, Mr. H. J. Rahm- 
low, wrote us recently, “Our observation 
of the Crath Carpathian walnuts is that 
they are about as hardy as the Bartlett 
pear and the sour cherry. We have had 
very little if any complaint about the 
trees we have shipped out so it looks as 
if this variety can be easily transplanted 
even if it is taprooted.” 
From the far west Mr. H. R. Folsom 
of Toppenish, Wash., wrote us recently, 
“For twenty-five years I have been trying 
to grow Franquette, Mayette and McDou- 
gal walnuts only to have them freeze 
down and eventually die out. They are 
too tender for this latitude. The seven 
Crath Carpathian trees that we received 
last fall have all thrived and made good 
growth. I am well pleased with them in 
this territory and have great ambitions 
for them. They have grown faster than 
my black walnut seedlings of the same 
age.” Mr. Fred A. Eckholm of Wenatchee 
Valley, Wash., writes, “The usual pro- 
cedure of English walnuts here in the 
Valley is that they do very well until 
we get a severe winter. Then they are 
killed back to the ground. Wenatchee is 
150 miles inland from Seattle on the 
banks of the Columbia River between 
six and seven hundred feet above sea 
level. About thirty miles north of here 
there are several commercial walnut 
orchards and they did very well until 
the winter of 1936-37. The coldest here 
was 22 degrees below zero. Nearly all 
the English walnut trees were killed back 
and lots were dead to the ground. I am 
pleased to report that the two small Car- 
pathian trees I set out this spring have 
done splendidly. One has made a new 
growth of 24” and the other of 27” which 
I consider remarkable. Other nut trees 
that I have planted in the past have 
shown very little growth the first year.” 
From the south Dr. N. F. Drake of 
Fayetteville, Ark. reports that the Crath 
trees in his experimental nut orchard 
have made very good growth and the 
foliage has kept in very good condition. 
Dr. E. H. Lyle of Wink, Texas, writes 
under date of Aug. 18, 1938, “My two 
Crath Carpathian trees are late in bud- 
ding out in the spring and are doing 
well. The leaves are healthy with no dis- 
ease and the color is nice and green. 
Yesterday the temperature in mid-after- 
noon in the shade on the east side of 
our house was 112 degrees F. These 
walnuts grow much faster than the pecan 
and they withstand heat and wind better 
than the young pecans that I have.” 
Mr. Crath intends to use the money 
from the sale of his trees to enable him 
to return to the Carpathians to make a 
more thorough search for the best wal- 
nuts and filberts. Those of us who have 
been searching for years for better var- 
ieties of our native nuts will understand 
how hard it is to make a thorough can- 
vass of that rugged territory where 
traveling is so difficult and so slow. 
