PERSIAN (ENGLISH) WALNUTS 
The Persian walnut makes a very attractive tree, with its gray 
(almost white in some varieties) trunk and its contrasting brown or 
green branches. It shapes up something like an apple tree when young, 
but maintains a leader somewhat better. It will probably make a large 
tall tree when older. 
The Persian walnut has been cultivated by man longer than any 
other of our nut species. The better varieties have been selected for 
centuries so that now when nuts of the Persian walnut are planted, a 
larger percentage of them will produce nuts of merit, than will any other 
of the nut species, with the possible exception of the Chinese chestnut. 
The Persian walnut ripens its nuts quite early in the fall; about the 
time of the early varieties of hickory and heartnuts. Practically all the 
nuts are ripe by the time the earliest of the black walnuts ripen. 
The time between the dates of pollinizing of the blossoms and the 
ripening of the nuts is 120 to 140 days. This means a growing season 
of about 150 to 160 days between severe frosts (freezes). 
The nuts are covered by a smooth glossy green husk; when they 
ripen this husk cracks open and if the nuts are not picked then, they 
will drop free from the husk onto the ground, many times the open husk 
remaining on the tree. The nuts are easily cracked. These two features 
are the main reasons why the Persian walnut has been so highly prized 
by man. 
The Persian walnut should make a very good ornamental when 
planted on the lawn or about the homestead. The tree will probably make 
a good street tree, but when grown as such, many of the nuts are liable 
to be lost through being crushed underfoot, or by being picked up by 
passersby. 
We have consistently advised going slow about the planting of nuts 
commercially in the Northeast; however, the crop of Persian walnuts 
and heartnuts produced by our grafts of these two species in 1949, has 
made us begin to wonder if there may be some possibilities after all. 
For prices of Persian walnut trees, see page of prices in the back of 
this catalogue. 
