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diff --git a/37968-8.txt b/37968-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51ca555 --- /dev/null +++ b/37968-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10035 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nut Culturist, by Andrew S. Fuller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Nut Culturist + A Treatise on Propogation, Planting, and Cultivation of + Nut Bearing Trees and Shrubs Adapted to the Climate of the + United States + +Author: Andrew S. Fuller + +Release Date: November 10, 2011 [EBook #37968] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NUT CULTURIST *** + + + + +Produced by Charlene Taylor, Kathryn Lybarger and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: A S Fuller] + + + + + THE + NUT CULTURIST + + A TREATISE + ON THE + PROPAGATION, PLANTING AND CULTIVATION + OF NUT-BEARING TREES AND SHRUBS + ADAPTED TO THE + CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES, + WITH THE SCIENTIFIC AND COMMON NAMES OF + THE FRUITS KNOWN + IN COMMERCE AS EDIBLE OR OTHERWISE USEFUL NUTS + + + By ANDREW S. FULLER, + +_Author of the "Grape Culturist," "Small Fruit Culturist," +"Practical Forestry," "Propagation of Plants," etc., etc._ + + +_ILLUSTRATED_ + + + NEW YORK + ORANGE JUDD COMPANY + 1896 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1896, + BY ORANGE JUDD COMPANY + + + + +PREFACE + + +Believing that the time is opportune for making an effort to +cultivate all kinds of edible and otherwise useful nut-bearing trees +and shrubs adapted to the soil and climate of the United States, +thereby inaugurating a great, permanent and far-reaching industry, +the following pages have been penned, and with the hope of +encouraging and aiding the farmer to increase his income and +enjoyments, without, to any appreciable extent, adding to his +expenses or labors. With this idea in mind, I have not advised the +general planting of nut orchards on land adapted to the production +of grain and other indispensable farm crops, but mainly as roadside +trees and where desired for shade, shelter and ornament, being +confident that when all such positions are occupied with choice +nut-bearing trees, to the exclusion of those yielding nothing of +intrinsic value, there will have been added many millions of dollars +to the wealth of the country, as well as a vast store of edible and +delicious food. + +This work has not been written for the edification, or the special +approbation, of scientific botanists, but for those who, in the +opinion of the writer, are most likely to profit by a treatise of +this kind. Unfamiliar terms have been omitted wherever simple common +words would answer equally as well in conveying the intended +information. There being no work of this kind published in this +country that would serve as a guide, I have been compelled to +formulate a plan of my own, and to describe all the newer varieties +from the best specimens obtainable, and these may not, in all cases, +have been perfect. Under such circumstances, this work must +necessarily be incomplete, and especially where the possessors of +claimed-to-be new and valuable varieties have either refused or +failed to give any information in regard to them. On the contrary, +however, I must acknowledge my indebtedness to many correspondents, +who have so generously placed specimens of both trees and nuts of +rare new varieties in my hands for testing and describing, as well +as assisting me in tracing their history and origin. + +That this treatise may become the pioneer of many other and better +works on nut culture is the sincere wish of + + THE AUTHOR. + + RIDGEWOOD, N. J., 1896. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + Page. + CHAPTER I. + INTRODUCTION, 1 + + CHAPTER II. + THE ALMOND, 12 + + CHAPTER III. + THE BEECHNUT, 44 + + CHAPTER IV. + CASTANOPSIS, 55 + + CHAPTER V. + THE CHESTNUT, 60 + + CHAPTER VI. + FILBERT OR HAZELNUT, 118 + + CHAPTER VII. + HICKORY NUTS, 147 + + CHAPTER VIII. + THE WALNUT, 203 + + CHAPTER IX. + MISCELLANEOUS NUTS--EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE, 254 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + Fig. Page. + 1. A California almond orchard, 18 + 2. Budding knife, 24 + 3. Yankee budding knife, 24 + 4. Prepared shoot, 26 + 5. Incision for bud, 27 + 6. Bud in position, 28 + 7. Hard-shelled almond, 36 + 8. Thin-shelled almond, 37 + 9. Beechnut leaf, bur and nut, 51 + 10. Leaves and nut of Castanopsis chrysophylla, 56 + 11. Castanopsis bur, 57 + 12. Chestnut flowers, 61 + 13. Splice graft, 75 + 14. Splice graft inserted, 75 + 15. Stock, 77 + 16. Cion, 77 + 17. Two cions inserted, 77 + 18. One cion inserted, 77 + 19. American chestnut leaf, 88 + 20. Spike of burs of bush chinquapin (_Castanea nana_), 89 + 21. Spike of chinquapin chestnut bur (_C. pumila_), 90 + 22. Single bur, nut and leaf of chinquapin + chestnut (_C. pumila_), 91 + 23. Japan chestnut leaf, 92 + 24. Burs of Fuller's chinquapin (one-half natural size), 97 + 25. Fuller's chinquapin, five years old from nut, 98 + 26. Bur of Numbo chestnut, 101 + 27. Spines of Numbo chestnut, 102 + 28. Numbo chestnut, 102 + 29. Paragon chestnut bur (one-half natural size), 103 + 30. Spines of Paragon chestnut bur, 103 + 31. Paragon chestnut, 104 + 32. Four-year-old Paragon chestnut tree, 105 + 33. Open bur of the Ridgely chestnut, 106 + 34. Japan Giant chestnut, 110 + 35. Spines of Japan chestnut, 110 + 36. Chestnut weevil, 114 + 37. Large filbert, 119 + 38. Large seedling hazelnut, 120 + 39. Constantinople hazel, 129 + 40. English filbert orchard, five years from seed, 134 + 41. Varieties of filberts and hazel seedlings, 135 + 42. Extra large hazel seedling or round English filbert, 136 + 43. Filbert orchard struck with blight, fifth year from seed,137 + 44. Hazel fungus, 141 + 45. Fourteen-years-old pecan tree in Mississippi, 154 + 46. Leaf and sterile catkins of shellbark hickory, 156 + 47. Western shellbark, 158 + 48. Section Western shellbark, 158 + 49. Leaf of pignut, 161 + 50. Bitternut branch and leaf, 163 + 51. Bitternut, 164 + 52. Large, long pecan nut, 166 + 53. Oval pecan nut, 166 + 54. Small oval pecan nut, 167 + 55. Little Mobile pecan nut, 167 + 56. Stuart pecan nut, 169 + 57. Van Deman pecan nut, 169 + 58. Risien pecan nut, 169 + 59. Lady Finger pecan nut, 169 + 60. The original Hales' Paper-shell hickory tree, 171 + 61. Hales' hickory, 172 + 62. Section of Hales' hickory, 172 + 63. Long shellbark hickory, 173 + 64. Shellbark Missouri, 173 + 65. Long Western shellbark, 174 + 66. Fresh Nussbaumer hybrid, 175 + 67. Nussbaumer's hybrid, 176 + 68. Crown grafting on roots of the hickory, 189 + 69. Sprouts from severed hickory roots, 190 + 70. The hickory-twig girdler, 196 + 71. Hickory borer, 198 + 72. Burrows of hickory scolytus, 200 + 73. Persian walnut, showing position of sexual organs, 204 + 74. Bearing branch of English walnut, 205 + 75. Seedling walnut, 216 + 76. Flute budding, 220 + 77. Flowering branch of hybrid walnut, 228 + 78. Hybrid walnut, 230 + 79. Hybrid walnut, shell removed, 230 + 80. Juglans Sieboldiana raceme, 231 + 81. Black walnut in husk, 232 + 82. Juglans nigra, husk removed, 233 + 83. Juglans Californica, 235 + 84. Juglans rupestris, showing small kernel, 235 + 85. Juglans Sieboldiana, 238 + 86. Juglans cordiformis, 239 + 87. Small fruited walnut, 240 + 88. Barthere walnut, 242 + 89. Chaberte walnut, 242 + 90. Chile walnut, 242 + 91. Cut-leaved walnut, 243 + 92. Gibbons walnut, 244 + 93. Mayette walnut, 245 + 94. Kernel of walnut, 245 + 95. Juglans regia octogona, 245 + 96. Cross section, 245 + 97. Parisienne walnut, 246 + 98. Serotina or St. John walnut, 247 + 99. The caterpillar of the regal walnut moth, 252 + 100. The regal walnut moth--Citheronia regalis, 252 + 101. Brazil nut, 258 + 102. The cashew nut, 260 + 103. Litchi or Leechee nut, 270 + 104. Branch of nut pine, 277 + 105. Paradise or sapucaia nut, 279 + 106. Souari nut, 281 + 107. Water chestnut, 283 + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTION. + + +No special amount of prophetic acumen is required to foresee that +the time will soon come when the people of this country must +necessarily place a much higher value upon all kinds of food than +they do at present, or have done in the past. In this we are +pre-supposing that in the natural course of events, our population +will continue to increase in nearly the same ratio it has since we +assumed the responsibilities of an independent nation. + +The very existence of animal life on this planet depends upon the +quantity and quality of available food, and while some +sentimentalists may assume to ignore and even attempt to deprecate +the animal desires of their race, nature compels us to recognize the +fact that there can be no fire without fuel, and the great and +useful intellectual powers of man are the emanations of the animal +tissues of a well-nourished brain. The brawny arm that rends the +rock and hurls the fragments aside, gets its power through the same +channel and from the same source as those of other members of +society, whatever the nature of their calling; for mankind is built +upon one universal and general plan, varied though it may be in some +of the minor details of construction. We certainly have no cause to +fear that the theories of Malthus, in regard to the overpopulation +of the earth as a whole, will ever be verified in the experience of +the human race, because with necessity comes industry, also the +inventions of devices to enable us to avoid just such dangers, and +if these fail to keep pace with our wants and needs, wars, +earthquakes, drouths, floods, and contagious, epidemic and other +diseases, become the weapons which nature employs to prevent +overpopulation. But we cannot deny that nature does sometimes +encourage or permit a somewhat redundant population in certain +favorable countries and localities, and then follows a struggle for +existence, and food becomes the paramount object in life. To ward +off danger of this kind and keep the supply in excess of the demand, +is a problem which should seriously engage the attention of every +one who takes the least interest in the general welfare of his +countrymen, even though the day of want or scarcity of food may be +very far distant. + +Among the various sources of acceptable and nutritious food products +heretofore almost entirely neglected in this country, the edible +nuts stand preëminently and conspicuously in the foreground, +awaiting the skill and attention of all who seek pleasure and +profit--to be derived from the products of the soil. For many +centuries these nuts have held a prominent position among the +desirable and valuable food products of various European and +Oriental countries; not only because they were important and almost +indispensable in making up the household supplies of all classes of +the people, but often because available for filling a depleted +purse, and the thing needful for this purpose has, in the main, been +received from far-distant nations, who through indifference and +neglect failed to provide themselves with such a simple and valuable +article as the edible nuts. + +Much as we may boast of our immense natural resources and +advantages, we have not, as yet, availed ourselves of one-half of +those we possess, and the remainder is still awaiting our attention. +We also neglect to avail ourselves of the many superior domestic +traits and practices of the foreign nations with whom we are in +constant communication. It may be that the absence of incentives has +made us careless and indifferent in regard to a day of need, which +in all probability will come to us sooner or later; but whatever the +cause, the fact remains that we have been spending millions annually +on worthless articles and sentimental problems and projects, which +have brought us neither riches nor honor; in truth, to use a homely +phrase, we have been following the bellwether in nearly all of our +rural affairs and pursuits. As a natural result we are spending +millions for imported articles of everyday use which might easily +and with large profit be produced at home, and in many instances the +most humiliating part of the transaction is that we send our money +to people who do not purchase any of our productions and almost +ignore us in commercial matters. I am not referring to those +products ill-adapted to our climate, nor to those which, owing to +scarcity and high price of labor, we are unable to produce +profitably, but to such nuts as the almond, walnut and chestnut, +which we can raise as readily as peaches, apples and pears. There +certainly can be no excuse for the neglect of such nut trees on the +score of cost of labor in propagation and planting, because our +streets and highways are lined and shaded with equally as expensive +kinds, although they are absolutely worthless for any other purpose +than shade or shelter, yielding nothing in the way of food for +either man or beast. Can any one invent a reasonable excuse for +planting miles and miles of roadside trees of such kinds as elm, +maple, ash, willow, cottonwood, and a hundred other similar kinds, +where shellbark hickory, chestnut, walnut, pecan and butternut would +thrive just as well, cost no more, and yet yield bushels of +delicious and highly prized nuts, and this annually or in alternate +years, continuing and increasing in productiveness for one, two or +more centuries. Aside from the intrinsic value of such trees, they +are, in the way of ornament, just as beautiful as, and in many +instances much superior to those yielding nothing in the way of food +except, perhaps, something for noxious insects. + +I am not attempting to pose as the one wise man engaged in rural +affairs, but am merely recounting my personal observation and +experience, having in my younger days taken the advice of my elders, +and at a time when a hint of the future value of nut trees would +have been worth more than a paid-up life insurance policy. But as +the hint was not given, I selected for roadside trees ash, maples, +tulip, magnolias, and other popular kinds, all of which thrived, and +by the time they were twenty years old began to be admired for their +beauty, although their roots were spreading into the adjoining +field, robbing the soil of the nutriment required for less +vigorous-growing plants. Later, however, the discovery was made that +I was paying very dearly for a crop of leaves and sentiment, neither +of which was salable or available for filling one's purse. When +thirty years of age the very best of my roadside trees were probably +worth two dollars each for firewood, or one dollar more than the +nurseryman's price at the time of planting. The greater part of +these trees, however, have since been cremated, a few being left as +reminders of the misdirected labors of youth and inexperience. + +In this matter of following a leader in tree-planting along the +highways, it appears to be a predominant trait of our rural +population and as old as the settlement of this country, for nowhere +is it more pronounced than in the New England States, where the +American elms attracted the attention of the Pilgrims and their +contemporaries and descendants, and even continued down to the +present day. No one will deny that the American elm is a noble tree +in appearance, is easily transplanted and of rapid growth, and yet +it is one of the most worthless for any economic purpose. It may be +that its worthlessness for other purposes made it all the more +acceptable for streets and roadsides, the better kinds being +reserved for firewood, fencing, furniture, and the manufacture of +agricultural and other implements. But whatever the cause or object, +the elm became the one tree generally selected for planting in +parks, villages, cities, and along roadsides in the country, not +only in the older but in many of the newer States. From present +indications, however, the glory of this much over-praised tree is on +the wane, for the imported elm-leaf beetle (_Galeruca calmariensis_) +is slowly but surely spreading over the country, defoliating the +elms of all species and varieties, and it is a question whether we +should bless this insect for the work it is doing or look upon it as +a pest. Perhaps future generations will sing pæons in its praise, +and they certainly will have reasons for rejoicing if better and +more useful kinds are planted in the places now occupied by the +worthless elms. + +In other localities some pioneer or leader in roadside ornamentation +selected or recommended some species of maple, linden, catalpa, +poplar or willow, but it made little or no difference as to kind, +because, as a rule, all his neighbors followed without a thought or +question in regard to adaptation to soil, climate, or fitness in the +local or surrounding scenery, or of its future economic value. The +result of this want of taste and forethought may be seen in whatever +direction one travels throughout the older and more thickly settled +portions of this country. + +Had the early settlers of the New England States planted shellbark +hickories, or even the native chestnut, in place of the American +elm, they would not only have had equally as beautiful trees for +shade and ornament, but the nutritious nuts would scarcely have +failed to bring bright cheer to many a household and money to fill +oft-depleted purses, while their descendants would have blessed them +for their forethought. Of course there are other valuable kinds of +nuts which thrive over the greater part of the New England States, +but I refer only to the two, which were so abundant in the forests +that one or both could have been obtained for the mere cost of +transplanting. But it is not fair to prate about the remissness and +follies of our ancestors, unless we can show by our works that +wisdom has come down to us through their experience. + +What is true of the New England is equally true of all the older +States, and is rapidly becoming so in many of the newer, little +attention being paid to the intrinsic value of the wood or the +product of the trees planted along the highways. There are also +millions of acres of wild lands not suitable for cultivation, but +well adapted to the growth of trees, whether of the nut-bearing or +other kinds. But for the present I will omit further reference to +the planting of nut trees except on the line of the highways, just +where other kinds have long been in vogue and are still being +cultivated for shade and ornament,--with no thought, perhaps, on the +part of the planter, that both could be obtained in the nut trees, +with something of more intrinsic value added. The nut trees which +grow to a large size are as well adapted for planting along +roadsides, in the open country, as other kinds that yield nothing in +the way of food for either man or beast. They are also fully as +beautiful in form and foliage, and in many instances far superior, +to the kinds often selected for such purposes. + +The only objection I have heard of as being urged against planting +fruit and nut trees along the highway is that they tempt boys and +girls--as well as persons of larger growth--to become trespassers; +but this only applies to where there is such a scarcity that the +quantity taken perceptibly lessens the total crop. But where there +is an abundance, either the temptation to trespass disappears, or we +fail to recognize our loss. As we cannot very well dispense with the +small boy and his sister, I am in favor of providing them +bountifully with all the good things that climate and circumstance +will afford. It is a truism that conscience is never strengthened by +an empty stomach. + +A mile, in this country, is 5280 feet, and if trees are set 40 feet +apart--which is allowing sufficient room for them to grow during an +ordinary lifetime--we get 133 per mile in a single row; but where +the roads are three to four rods wide, two rows may be planted, one +on each side, or 266 per mile. With such kinds as the Persian walnut +and American and foreign chestnuts, we can safely estimate the crop, +when the trees are twenty years old, at a half bushel per tree, or +66 bushels for a single row, and 133 for a double row per mile. With +grafted trees of either kind we may count on double the quantity +named, presuming, of course, that the trees are given proper care. +But to be on the safe side, let us keep our estimate down to the +half-bushel mark per tree, and with this crop, at the moderate price +of four dollars per bushel, we would get $264 from the crop on a +single row, and double this sum, or $528, for the crop on a double +row--with a fair assurance that the yield would increase steadily +for the next hundred years or more; while the cost of gathering and +marketing the nuts is no greater, and in many instances much less +than that of the ordinary grain crops. At the expiration of the +first half century, one-half of the trees may be removed, if they +begin to crowd, and the timber used for whatever purpose it may best +be adapted. The remaining trees would probably improve, on account +of having more room for development. + +There has been a steady increase in the demand, and a corresponding +advance in the price of all kinds of edible nuts, during the past +three or four decades, and this is likely to continue for many years +to come, because consumers are increasing far more rapidly than +producers; besides, the forests, which have long been the only +source of supply of the native kinds, are rapidly disappearing, +while there has not been, as yet, any special effort to make good +the loss, by replanting or otherwise. The dealers in such articles +in our larger cities assure me that the demand for our best kinds of +edible nuts is far in excess of the supply, and yet not one +housewife or cook in a thousand in this country has ever attempted +to use nuts of any kind in the preparation of meats and other dishes +for the table, as is so generally practiced in European and Oriental +countries. + +The question may be asked, if the demand is sufficient to warrant +the planting of the hardy nut trees extensively along our highways +or elsewhere. In answer to such a question it may be said that we +not only consume all of the edible nuts raised in this country, but +import millions of pounds annually of the very kinds which thrive +here as well as in any other part of the world. + +I have before me the records of our imports from the year 1790 to +1894, but as I purpose dealing more with the present and future than +with the distant past, I will refer here only to the statistics of +the four years of the present decade, leaving out all reference to +the tropical nuts, which are not supposed to be adapted to our +climate. + +Of almonds, not shelled, and on which there is a protective duty of +three cents per pound, we imported from 1890 to the close of 1893, +12,443,895 pounds, valued at $1,100,477.65. Of almonds, shelled, on +which the duty is now five cents, we imported 1,326,633 pounds. The +total value of both kinds for the four years, amounted to +$1,716,277.32. Whether this high protective duty is to remain or not +is uncertain, but it is quite evident that it has had very little +effect in stimulating the cultivation of this nut except in +circumscribed localities on the Pacific coast. + +Of filberts and walnuts, not shelled, and with a duty of two cents +per pound, we imported during the same years from eleven to fifteen +million pounds annually, or a total for the four years of 54,526,181 +pounds, and in addition about two million pounds of the shelled +kernels, on which the duty was six cents (now four) per pound. The +total value of these importations amounted to $3,176,085.34. + +I do not find the European chestnut mentioned in any list of +imports, although an immense quantity must be received from France, +Italy and Spain every year, and they are probably imported under the +head of miscellaneous nuts, not specially provided for, and upon +which the duty was two cents per pound in 1890-'91, but was later +reduced to one and a half cents. + +Under the head "miscellaneous nuts," or all other shelled and +unshelled "not specially provided for," there was imported during +the period named 6,442,908 pounds, valued at $235,976.05. The total +for all kinds of edible nuts imported was $7,124,575.82. These +figures are sufficient to prove that we are neglecting an +opportunity to largely engage in and extend a most important and +profitable industry. It is true that in the Southern States +considerable attention has been given, of late, to the preservation +of the old pecan nut trees and the planting of young stock, but it +will be many years before the increase from this source can overtake +the ever-increasing demand for this delicious native nut. +Californians are also making an effort to raise several foreign +varieties of edible nuts on a somewhat extensive scale, but all +these widely scattered experiments are mere drops in the ocean of +our wants. Under such conditions I ask, in all seriousness, if it is +not about time that our farmers and rural population generally began +to count their worthless and unproductive possessions, in the form +of roadside and other shade trees--which have probably cost fully as +much to secure, plant and care for during the few or many years +since they were set out, as would have been expended upon the most +beautiful and valuable nut-bearing kinds. If our ancestors were at +fault in the selection of trees for planting, we need not expect +that posterity will excuse us for continuing and repeating their +folly, especially when our dear-bought experience should teach us +better. + +At the present time there might be some difficulty in procuring, at +the nurseries, a choice selection of nut trees in any considerable +quantity, suited to roadside planting, because heretofore there has +been little demand for such stock; and nurserymen are only human, +and conduct their establishments on business principles, propagating +the kind of trees in greatest demand, regardless of their intrinsic +or future value to purchasers. They will also continue producing +such stock just so long as the demand will warrant it, and further, +it is but natural that they should sometimes recommend and advise +their customers to purchase worthless, and even pestiferous kinds, +such as the ailanthus and white poplar, because the profits in +raising these trees are large and there is little danger of loss in +transplanting. But if purchasers will insist on having better kinds +and refuse to accept any other, they will soon be accommodated; and +if not, then let everyone who owns a plot of ground become his own +propagator of trees. It is not beyond the ability of any moderately +intelligent man (or woman, for that matter) to raise nut trees, and +as readily as one could potatoes or corn. + +Where farmers want a row of trees along the roadside, to be utilized +for line fence posts, they cannot possibly find any kinds better +adapted for this purpose than chestnut, walnut and hickory; and +these will give just as dense a shade, and look as well--besides, in +a few years they may yield enough to pay the taxes on the entire +farm, the crop increasing in amount and value not only during the +lifetime of the planter, but that of many generations of his +descendants. + +This appeal to the good sense of our rural population is made in all +sincerity and with the hope that it will be heeded by every man who +has a spark of patriotism in his soul, and who dares show it in his +labors, and by setting up a few milestones in the form of +nut-bearing trees along the roadsides--if for no other purpose than +the present pleasure of anticipating the gratification such +monuments will afford the many who are certain to pass along these +highways years hence. + +It is surely not good policy to enrich other nations at the expense +of our own people, as we are now doing in sending millions of +dollars annually to foreign countries in payment for such luxuries +as edible nuts that could be readily and profitably produced at +home. There need be no fear of an overproduction of such things, no +matter how many may engage in their cultivation, because in such +industries many will resolve to do, and even make an attempt, but a +comparatively small number will reach any marked degree of success. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ALMOND. + + +Amygdalus, _Tournefort_. Name supposed to be derived from _amysso_, +to lacerate, because of the prominent sharp, knifelike margin of one +edge of the deeply pitted, wrinkled nut. Martius, an Italian +botanist, suggests that the name came from the Hebrew word _shakad_, +signifying vigilant, or to awake, because after the rigors of winter +the almond tree is one of the earliest to hail the coming of spring, +with its flowers. The common English name is from the Latin +_amandola_, corrupted from _amygdala_. In French it is _amandier_; +in German, _mandel_; Portuguese, _amendoa_; Spanish, _almendro_; +Italian, _amandola_, _mandalo_, _mandorla_, etc.; Dutch, _amendel_; +Chinese, _him-ho-gin_. + +Under the natural classification of plants the almond belongs to the +order _Rosaceæ_, and in the tribe _Drupaceæ_. Linnæus placed the +peach and almond in the same genus, and they are now generally +considered to be only varieties of one species,--the wild almond +tree is probably the parent from which all the cultivated peaches +and nectarines have descended. In most of our modern botanical works +these fruits are classed as a sub-section of _Prunus_, the plum. +They are mainly deciduous shrubs, or small trees. The flowers are +variable, both in size and color; but in the almond they are usually +somewhat larger than in the peach, almost sessile, and from separate +scaly buds on the shoots of the preceding season, appearing in early +spring, before or with the unfolding leaves, the latter being folded +lengthwise in the bud. Leaves three to four inches long, tapering, +finely serrate, with few or no glands at the base of the blade, as +seen in many varieties of the common peach. Fruit clothed with a +fine dense pubescence in both peach and almond; but in the latter +the pulpy envelope becomes dry and fibrous at maturity, cracking +open irregularly, allowing the rough and deeply indented nuts to +drop out; while in the peach the pulpy part becomes soft, juicy and +edible, the reverse of the almond. The nectarine is only a +smooth-skinned peach. + +=History of the Almond.=--As with most of our long-cultivated fruits +and nut trees, very little is now known of the early history or +origin of the almond, and even its native country has not been +positively determined, although it is supposed to be indigenous to +parts of Northern Africa and the mountainous region of Asia. +Theophrastus, who wrote a history of plants about three centuries +before the Christian era, mentions the almond as the only tree in +Greece that produces blossoms before the leaves. From Greece it was +introduced into Italy, where the nuts were called _nuces græcæ_, or +Greek nuts. + +Columella, about the middle of the first century of our era, was the +earliest Roman writer to mention the almond as distinct from the +peach. From Italy this nut was slowly disseminated, making its way +northward mainly through France, reaching Great Britain as late as +1538 (_Hortus Kewensis_). But its cultivation has never extended in +Britain, beyond sheltered gardens and orchard houses, owing to the +cool and otherwise uncongenial climate, and the same is true of +Northern France and other regions to the eastward in Europe. But in +the south of France, also in Italy, Spain, Sicily, and throughout +the Mediterranean countries, both in Europe and Africa, the almond +thrives, and has long been extensively cultivated. These nuts are an +important article of commerce, immense quantities being exported by +Spain, mainly from Valencia, while the so-called Jordan almond comes +from Malaga, as very few are raised in the valley of the Jordan. +Bitter almonds come principally from Mogador in Morocco. + +As for almond culture in the United States, very little is to be +said further than that, while we have few experiments to refer to as +having been made east of the Rocky Mountains, not one of our great +pomologists, in their published works, has ever given any reason for +the almost entire neglect of this nut. Mr. Wm. H. White, author of +"Gardening for the South" (1868), throws no light upon the subject, +merely describing a few of the well-known varieties of the almond. +Downing's "Fruit and Fruit Trees of America," Thomas' "American +Fruit Culturist," Barry's "Fruit Garden," and a score of other +standard pomological works may be consulted, without obtaining +therefrom any information in regard to the culture of this nut +further than to be assured that the hard-shelled varieties are hardy +in the North wherever the peach tree thrives, and the thin, or paper +shelled, succeed only in warm climates. All these authors agree in +saying that the propagation and cultivation of the almond is the +same as practiced with the peach. + +Coming down to recent years for information in regard to almond +culture, we find H. E. Van Deman, pomologist to the Department of +Agriculture, dismissing the subject in his report for 1892, as +follows: + + "I only mention this nut to state to all experimenters that it + is useless to try to grow the almond of commerce this side of + the Rocky mountains, except, possibly, in New Mexico and + southwestern Texas. This is thoroughly established by many + reports from those who have tried it in nearly every State and + for many years past. It is too tender in the North and does not + bear in the South. In California it is an eminent success. + + "The flavor of the hard-shelled almond, so far as I have tested + it, is little or no better than a peach kernel, and is therefore + practically worthless. The tree of this variety is about as + hardy as the peach, and bears quite freely. The attention paid + to the almond in the Atlantic and Central States might well be + given to other nuts." + +This is certainly a very easy way of disposing of the cultivation of +a nut which has so long figured among our importations from European +countries; besides, no experiments are cited, experimenters named, +or reasons given why almond culture is a failure in the Southern +States. But fortunately there are men in the South who are able and +ready to give reasons for their opinions and statements, in regard +to the cultivation of crops or plants with which they have become +familiar through personal experience. When I asked Mr. P. J. +Berckmans, Augusta, Ga., president of the American Pomological +Society, for information on this point, he promptly replied as +follows: + + "The reason that almonds are not cultivated in Georgia and other + Southern States is because of their early blooming, as spring + frosts usually destroy all the blossoms. We have tried many + varieties of the soft-shell without success. The hard-shell will + occasionally bear a crop of fruit, as it blooms later, and the + blooms seem to resist cold better than the other varieties. In + middle Florida soft-shell almonds are sometimes successful, but + they have been tried so sparingly that I cannot obtain any + satisfactory reports." + +Admitting, as we do, that President Berckmans' long experience in +the cultivation of nut and fruit trees in the South enables him to +speak with authority on this subject, still, we have some +encouragement for continuing experiments with the almond in regions +known to be favorable for the cultivation of its near relative, the +peach. Furthermore, experiments seem to be wanting with the almond +in the more elevated regions of the northern line of Southern +States, also in Maryland, Delaware and southern New Jersey, near the +seacoast, or other large bodies of water, which, as is well known, +have considerable influence in retarding the early blooming of fruit +trees, as well as warding off late spring and early autumn frosts. + +It is scarcely reasonable to suppose that a region of country as +extensive as that of one-half of the Middle and all of the Southern +States, with a range of climate admitting of the successful +cultivation of such hardy fruits as the apple and pear, and from +these down to the pineapple and cocoa-nut, should not yield a +locality or localities admirably adapted to the cultivation of the +half-hardy almond tree. It is no doubt true that there are extensive +regions in the South where late spring frosts are exceedingly +troublesome, and sometimes disastrously so, to fruit growers; but +even these have their limits, as shown in the vast quantity and +variety of fruits annually produced in the Southern States. But +great local variations in climate are natural to all countries in +the temperate zone, and we frequently find the most favorable and +the unfavorable for fruit culture within a few miles of each other. + +If there are not thousands and tens of thousands of acres of land +located in favorable positions between Virginia and Florida, adapted +to produce the commercial almond in some of its varieties, then we +must confess that the study of climatology is of little use to the +pomologist. Furthermore, all the varieties of the so-called +hard-shelled almonds which thrive in our northern States are not +worthless, neither are the kernels of all of them "bitter," and even +if they were, they would still be worth cultivating, else we would +not import such vast quantities from Morocco to supply the demand. + +If none of the thin-shelled varieties heretofore tried in the South +are successful, it is time that either our experiment stations or +individual horticulturists made some attempt to produce those that +are adapted to that region of country. But until we have some more +definite information than heretofore disseminated, in regard to +almond culture in the South, it is safe to conclude that failures in +the past have been due mainly to want of judgment, or knowledge of +varieties and of positions for the orchard, with, perhaps, some +neglect in care and cultivation. + +In California almond culture has been pushed with vigor for several +decades, but at first with rather indifferent results, because +growers depended upon noted European varieties, which, as experience +proved, were not adapted to the soil and climate of the country. In +a paper read before the American Pomological Society at its session +held at Sacramento, Cal., Jan. 16-18, 1895, Prof. E. J. Wickson, of +the University of California, alluded to this subject of almond +culture in the State as follows: + + "In no branch of this effort for improved varieties has our + success been more marked than in the development of seedling + almonds. The achievements of A. T. Hatch in this line are too + well known to require but a passing allusion. It is not too much + to say that this work rescued almond culture to California. When + he began, the almond, because of almost universal failure of the + old varieties, was a jest and a byword in our horticulture. + Nine-tenths of all the almonds planted during the preceding + twenty-five years had gone for firewood or were carrying the + foliage of the prune to conceal their hated stems. At the + present time, through the dissemination of Mr. Hatch's + varieties, the almond, in all regions decently adapted to the + tree, is productive and profitable and has a future." + +[Illustration: FIG. 1. A CALIFORNIA ALMOND ORCHARD.] + +That almond culture in California is rapidly becoming an important +and successful industry, we have an ocular demonstration in the tons +of these valuable nuts received from there in the past few years, +and placed on sale in Eastern markets. If one man, by his individual +efforts, can revolutionize or establish a great industry in a region +as large as the State of California, it is not too much to expect +that something of the kind could be done elsewhere, with the +combined efforts of several men. If the varieties heretofore tried +in the East are unsuited to the climate, it is certainly within the +range of probabilities that others better adapted to surrounding +conditions can be produced. The native grape, raspberry and +strawberry have had a history similar to the almond, but now all are +extensively and successfully cultivated. + +=Propagation of the Almond.=--The propagation of the almond is +identical with that of the peach: that is, from seed to procure new +varieties, or by budding the more desirable ones, when obtained, +upon seedling almond, peach or plum stocks. The half-wild +hard-shelled almond is probably the most congenial and best stock +for this purpose, but seedlings of the peach are most generally +employed because the most abundant and cheapest. Under certain +conditions, such as cold, heavy, moist soils, and where rather +dwarfish trees are desired, the plum may be employed with advantage +as a stock, but it is not to be recommended for general orchard +culture. In mild climates seedlings of the best of the soft-shelled +varieties may be raised and planted in orchards without budding, but +the nuts from such trees are likely to be somewhat variable in size +and quality, although the trees will usually prove to be as healthy +and productive as those subjected to artificial modes of +propagation. If, however, the grower desires a uniform product, he +must resort to the usual means of obtaining it; that is, multiplying +superior or distinct varieties by budding, either upon peach, almond +or other stocks. It is advisable, as well as exceedingly important, +for all who intend or feel inclined to cultivate almonds in regions +where the adaptation of this nut has not been fully established by +years of practical experience, that seedlings should be raised in +large numbers, and from these a selection be made to meet the +requirements of the climate and other conditions under which they +are to be propagated and grown. If spring frosts have been +heretofore inimical to the cultivation of the almond, then the +production of late-blooming varieties would be a remedy. There will +also be variations in the season of ripening; some may come on too +early, others far too late for special localities, but all these +faults or variations may be readily overcome by raising seedlings, +and then selecting for propagation those coming nearest fulfilling +the requirements of local conditions or circumstances. It is by such +experiments and means that fruit culture has reached its present +position in this and all other countries, where it is practiced as +an art or industrial pursuit. Varieties that have become exceedingly +popular and profitable in one locality or country, may not have +succeeded elsewhere, and this holds good with all cultivated plants. + +In making experiments with the almond in regions where it has not +been cultivated, but under conditions which appear to be favorable, +I would certainly advise testing the well-known varieties first, and +if these fail, then see what can be done in the way of producing new +ones adapted to the locality and climate. + +=Raising Seedlings for Stocks.=--In warm or moderately mild climates +the nuts, whether peach or almond, may be planted soon after they +are gathered in the fall, but should the weather continue warm and +moist the nuts will sometimes sprout prematurely and the young +sprouts get frosted later in the season, and for this reason it is +better to store them in a cool room, packed in dry sand or soil, +until the approach of steady cold weather, and then plant. Having +lost choice kinds of nuts from being in too great haste in getting +them into the ground in the fall, I am prompted to give this warning +to those who have had no experience in raising nut trees. If not +convenient to plant in the fall, nuts of all kinds may be packed in +barrels, boxes, or similar vessels, mixed with or stratified with +sharp sand or light soil, then stored in a dry, cool place,--a very +cool cellar will answer, but in my experience, out of doors is +preferable,--and in the shade of some evergreen tree or on the north +side of a building, and there banked over with earth just sufficient +to keep the nuts at an equably low temperature. It is advisable to +have a few small holes in the bottom of the barrels or boxes, to +insure proper drainage, should any considerable amount of water get +in at the top; but this will not occur if the vessels are properly +covered with boards when placed in position for winter. + +It must also be kept in mind that mice, squirrels and chipmunks are +fond of almonds and other kinds of edible nuts, and if placed where +these little rodents can find them, they are sure to take a share, +or perhaps the entire store, before their visits are discovered. I +have known field mice to dig down under boxes of nuts, enlarge the +holes left for drainage, and spend the winter among the chestnuts +which I had put away for planting in spring. The safest way is to +place fine wire netting on the bottom of the box, and then cover it +with the same. Owing to the abundance of mice and other little +nut-eating animals, I have never dared to plant out nuts in the +fall, and so have always stored them in sand, but out of doors +during the winter, and well covered with earth. In other localities +it may be safe to sow in autumn, and if protection from vermin is +required, coat the nuts with gas tar, the same as practiced by +farmers in protecting seed corn against the attacks of crows and +other corn-pulling birds. One pint of warm tar will be sufficient +for a bushel of nuts, and the application is readily made by placing +the nuts in a barrel, pouring the tar on them, and stirring with a +stick until every nut is coated. To prevent the tar sticking to the +hands in planting, dust the nuts with dry wood ashes, land plaster, +or fine dry sand. + +If peach stones are to be planted for stocks they may be put into +the ground as soon as ready in autumn, because they are rarely +disturbed by vermin; or if more convenient, mix with common soil, +and in heaps, in the open ground, and leave in this position until +spring, then pick out as they begin to sprout, and plant. The +hard-shelled almond may be treated in the same way, only they are +not to be handled quite as roughly as peach stones, and for +protection it is best to put them in barrels or boxes, as described +above. + +When ready for planting take out the nuts and drop them in shallow +drills, one every ten or twelve inches, then cover with about two +inches of soil. It is to be supposed, of course, that a seed bed has +been prepared, by thorough working over and enriching, if necessary, +in advance of planting. The distance between the drills or rows +should be sufficient to admit of cultivating the plants with a horse +or mule, and cultivator, during the summer, and if this is done and +the soil stirred often enough to keep down all weeds, the stocks +should become large enough to admit of budding the first season; if +not, then this operation must be deferred until the following year. +But in case the seedlings are raised from choice varieties and to be +left in their natural condition for fruiting, they may be lifted +when one or two seasons old and set where they are to remain +permanently. + +=The Season for Budding.=--So much depends upon climate, location, +and variation of seasons, that no special date or time can be given +for budding trees of any kind, but it is always to be done while the +stocks are in active growth, because the bark must part freely from +the wood underneath, in order to admit of inserting the bud under +it. If the buds are set too early in the season there is danger of a +premature growth; that is, of pushing out a shoot in the fall +instead of remaining dormant until the following spring. Under +certain conditions, however, and for special purposes, it may be +advisable to force the buds as soon as they have formed a union with +the stock, but as a rule, in the propagation of hardy and half-hardy +trees, it is better to keep the buds dormant during the cool or cold +winter months. + +Here in the Northern States we usually begin to look over our stocks +during the latter part of July or first week in August, and note +their progress and condition. Should they show the least signs of +cessation of growth, we begin budding them, and push the work as +rapidly as possible. If the season is a wet one the stocks may +continue to grow and remain in good condition for budding until the +middle of September; but in a dry season they may cease to grow in +August, and it is these variable conditions which gives to the close +observer and man of experience such an advantage over the novice in +the propagation of plants. It is better to begin budding too early +than to be a few days too late. + +The operation called budding consists in taking a bud, with a small +portion of the bark adjoining, from one plant, and inserting it in +another, or in some other part of the same plant from which it was +taken. The physiological principles which govern the operation are, +that there must exist an affinity between the plant from which the +bud is taken and the one upon which it is to be placed, and the +nearer the relationship the more readily will it unite and the more +perfect the union. For instance, the cultivated peach and almond are +supposed to be of the same origin, and descendants of one original +species; consequently there is a close relationship between the +varieties of both sections, and their seedlings may be employed +indiscriminately for stocks. The next nearest relatives in the +family line are the plums (_Prunus_), some of which answer very well +as stocks for the almond, although very rarely used for this +purpose. The next group in the line of botanical relationship are +the cherries (_Prunus cerasus_), but these are too far removed to be +employed as stocks for either the peach or almond. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2. BUDDING KNIFE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 3. YANKEE BUDDING KNIFE.] + +For budding are necessary a small knife for preparing the buds for +insertion and making an incision in the bark of the stock to admit +them; and a quantity of some material to tie around the stock, so as +to hold the bud in place. Budding knives are made after various +patterns; one that is commonly used has an ivory or bone handle, +made very thin at the end, that is used to peel the bark from the +stock where the bud is to be inserted (Fig. 2). Another form of +budding knife is made with a horn handle, and a small tapering piece +of ivory fastened in the end. These knives, of various shapes and +sizes, can be had at the seed stores; but another and quite a +different form of budding knife is shown in Fig. 3, and is known as +the "Yankee budding knife." It is merely a small one-bladed pocket +knife with a thin blade, round at the end. The cutting portion +extends about one-third around the end of the blade and two-thirds +of its length, leaving the lower part dull. Although this form of +budding knife has been in constant use in some of the older +nurseries in this country for nearly a century, it does not appear +to have been manufactured for the general trade, but only on special +orders for nurserymen. It is so simple a knife, however, that with a +little grinding almost any small one-bladed pocket knife can be +transformed into one of these handy budding knives. The rounded end +of the blade is used for lifting the bark, and for rapid work it is +far more convenient than any form of knife that must be reversed in +the hand every time a bud is inserted. In addition, a polished bit +of steel is smoother and far less likely to lacerate the alburnous +matter between the bark and wood than the best piece of bone or +ivory. It may be said, however, that it is immaterial what form of +knife is employed, provided it has a keen edge and is dexterously +used. + +[Illustration: FIG. 4. PREPARED SHOOT.] + +The material most commonly used in times past for tying in the bud +is the inner bark of the linden or basswood tree, usually called +bass, and always to be procured in the form of mats, or as prepared +from our indigenous basswoods and kept on sale at the seed stores. +Recently, however, another excellent tying material has come into +use, known in the trade as raffia or roffia. It is the cuticle of +the Jupati palms. One species (_Raphia tædigera_) is a native of the +lower valley of the Amazon and Orinoco, and another (_R. Ruffia_) of +Madagascar and adjacent islands. Raffia is somewhat softer and more +pliable than the ordinary bass, although it does not hold its form +quite as well; but it is so cheap, soft and strong, that it has +become very popular, and is extensively used for budding and many +other purposes. But if none of these tying materials are at hand, +the inner bark of the persimmon, corn husks, cotton twine, woolen +yarn, or even strips of old muslin and calico may be employed with +equally as good results, although not as handy and convenient for +such purposes. The amateur, with only a few stocks to bud, can +readily improvise implements and materials for doing the work, even +if they are not of the regulation type. In selecting buds, the young +shoots of the present season's growth are preferred, and these +should be taken from the most healthy and vigorous branches of +bearing trees, if possible. The leaves should be immediately +removed, not by breaking or pulling off with the hand, but by +severing the leaf-stalks with a knife, as shown in Fig. 4. If the +leaves have fallen from the twig, the buds may be too ripe, with +some kinds of plants, but with the almond, and where only a few +leaves near the base have dropped, all may be used with fair +success. If there are any soft and immature buds on the upper part +of the shoot, or any undeveloped ones at the base, they should be +rejected. Success in budding depends very largely upon the condition +of the stocks at the time the operation is performed. Unless the sap +is flowing and in sufficient abundance to allow the bark to part or +peel readily from the wood underneath, the bud is certain to fail. +If the buds used should happen to be a little over-ripe or wholly +dormant when placed in direct contact with the living tissues and +the juices of the stock, they will absorb moisture and nutriment, +and be as likely to unite and live as under opposite conditions. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5. INCISION FOR BUD.] + +In performing the operation of budding, the following rules may be +observed: Take the twig from which the buds are to be removed, in +the left hand, with the small end pointing under the left arm; +insert the knife-blade half an inch, or a little more, below the +bud, cutting through the bark and a little into the wood; pass the +knife under the bud, and bring it out about the same distance above +it, taking off the bud with the bark, and a thin slice of wood +attached, as at _c_, Fig. 4. Then, if using the Yankee budding +knife, or one of similar form, let the forefinger clasp the lower +part of the blade, make the horizontal incision in the stock first, +and from this an incision downward about an inch long,--or it may be +twice this length without doing any harm,--being careful not to cut +too deep. Lift up the edge of the bark by passing the back of the +end of the blade (without removing it) up to the horizontal +incision. Lift the bark on the other side in the same manner, the +two incisions making a wound in the stock resembling the letter T, +as shown in Fig. 5. If other forms of budding knives are used, the +thin end of the ivory handle is thrust under the bark, raising it +sufficiently to admit the bud. The budder holds the bud between the +thumb and forefinger of his left hand while making the incision in +the stock; and as the knife leaves it he places the lower point of +the bark attached to the bud under the bark of the stock before this +falls back into place, and thrusts it down into position. If the +upper end of the bark attached to the bud does not pass completely +under the bark of the stock, it must be cut across, so as to allow +that which remains with the bud to fall into place and rest firmly +on the wood of the stock, as shown in Fig. 6. + +When the bud is in position and fitted to the stock, as shown, wind +the raffia, or other material used, around the stock, both above and +below, covering the entire incision, leaving only the bud and part +of leafstalk uncovered. Of course experienced propagators have their +own individual systems and modes of operation, but the above may be +taken as a safe guide for the amateur budder. The ligatures should +be loosened or removed as soon as the bud has become firmly united +with the stock, which will usually be in ten or fifteen days, if at +all. When the buds have failed, others may be inserted, provided, of +course, the stocks are in condition to admit of the operation. +Exceptions, however, may be made where the budding has been done so +late in the season that the stock has ceased to grow by the time the +buds have taken, and in such cases the ligatures may be left on +later and removed any time before winter. In cold climates the snow, +ice and water are likely to get in around the bud if the ligatures +are not removed. But where the stocks are vigorous and the buds set +early, there will be danger of the ligatures cutting into the bark +as the stocks swell or increase in diameter, unless they are +loosened or entirely removed. + +[Illustration: FIG. 6. BUD IN POSITION.] + +Under ordinary circumstances budded stocks should not be headed back +until the following spring, and then should be cut off two or three +inches above the inserted bud; and when this pushes into growth, all +suckers and sprouts below and above it should be rubbed off as they +appear, for the object is to throw the entire strength of the stock +into this one bud, and when this has made a growth of two or three +feet the short stump of the stock above the base of the shoot may be +carefully removed with a sharp knife. This is usually done the last +of July or first of August, which gives time for the healing of the +wound before the close of the growing season. Sometimes it may be +necessary to place small stakes by the side of these shoots for +their support and to prevent breaking at the point of union with the +stock; but this will rarely be necessary, except in very exposed +situations. + +If the young trees make a fairly good growth they will be ready for +planting out in the orchard the following spring, and one-year-old +almond trees are usually preferable for transplanting than older. It +is not advisable to prune these young trees during the growing +season the first summer, but allow all the side shoots or branches +to grow unchecked, for by so doing we secure a more stocky plant, if +not as tall a one, than we would if trimming up was practiced. But +when the trees are taken up for transplanting, in the late fall or +early spring, then they may be pruned and the lateral branches cut +off close to the main stem, leaving a naked rod, and if low-headed +trees are desired (and they usually are), cut back the main stem to +about three feet from the ground. If the young trees have made a +growth of from four to six feet, then prune away the lateral +branches to a hight of three feet or a little more, and cut in all +branches above this point to within four to six inches of the main +stem, leaving the buds on these stumps to form the head of the tree. +Four or five branches at the top of the stem will be sufficient for +the foundation for an open, round-headed tree, or in what may be +termed a vase form, which is the best for almonds. + +=Soil and Exposure for Almonds.=--The almond requires a warm, rather +light and well-drained soil. Cold, heavy clays, and low, moist +soils, whether light or heavy, are always to be avoided for the +almond and closely allied trees. That the soil should be moderately +rich is, of course, a condition required with all cultivated nut and +fruit trees, but over-stimulation may result in excessive and +immature growth late in the season, this leaving the twigs in such a +state that they will be unable to resist even a few degrees of +frost, to which they may be subjected the ensuing winter. In what +are generally termed mild climates, or where the temperature seldom +goes more than four to six degrees below the freezing point, hardy +trees, if they have made a late growth, are often injured more than +they would have been in a colder climate, with early matured wood. +There are many kinds of what we consider very hardy trees and shrubs +here in the North, that are very likely to be winterkilled or +severely frosted when grown at the South, simply because the +conditions are such that they do not ripen up in time to resist the +cold. + +In touching upon the subject of location for an almond orchard east +of the Mississippi, I should be inclined to relegate this valuable +nut to semi-tropical Florida, were it not for the fact that almost a +score of ornamental species and varieties of the same genus,--to say +nothing of the widely cultivated peach,--flourish over a very wide +range of country and climate, and nowhere better than near the +Atlantic ocean in the Middle and some of the Northern States. It is +also generally conceded that several of what are called hard-shelled +varieties thrive and bear fruit in nearly all of our best +peach-growing regions. From all that I have been able to learn of +almond culture, and with my own limited experience with this nut, +experiments are wanting to prove that it cannot be successfully +cultivated in the peach-growing region of the Eastern States. I will +not say "profitably" cultivated, for this is a rather vague term +when applied to horticultural operations of any kind. Success is not +synonymous with profit; in fact, it is frequently quite the +opposite, and an abundant crop may mean glutted markets and a +corresponding loss to the producer. But, to return to location, the +principal cause of failure in almond culture, where it has been +tried in the older States, seems to be the early blooming of the +trees and subsequent destruction of the embryo fruit by frosts. To +avoid this, high, open, airy situations, and even the north side of +hills, would certainly be preferable to southern slopes and +protected locations, especially in the South or where the +temperature in winter does not go low enough to kill the wood of the +previous season's growth. Theoretically, we might suppose that there +are many locations favorable to almond culture in the elevated +regions of North Carolina and Tennessee, as well as in the northern +tier of counties in Alabama and Georgia. But in the absence of +carefully conducted experiments in these regions, we have only to +wait for their consummation at some future time, to prove the truth +or falsity of our theory. + +In the rich, warm valleys of New Mexico, Arizona and California, +congenial locations are plentiful, inasmuch as almost every variety +of climate is at hand, with a temperature ranging from that of +perpetual summer to the opposite extreme, and all to be found within +a few miles, and frequently to be found in the same county. Under +such conditions, it rests with the would-be cultivator to decide +upon the kinds of fruits desired, then to seek a location best +adapted to his purpose. + +If, as claimed,--but not proven,--there are no limited or extended +areas fitted for almond culture east of the Mississippi river, there +are certainly plenty of such west of it, awaiting the industrious +and intelligent nut culturist. Almond orchards have been planted in +California and Arizona, and the quality of the nuts, as well as the +quantity, is very satisfactory; but a greater number and more +extensive orchards are needed to meet the home demand. + +=Planting and Pruning.=--In planting and pruning the almond tree the +same system should be adopted as with its near relative, the peach. +One-year-old budded trees are preferred for planting in an orchard, +to older, except in the case of seedlings, then two-year-old may be +selected, because these are seldom larger than one-year budded +trees. The trees should be set fifteen to eighteen feet apart, +varying the distance according to variety, soil, and other local +conditions, and it is best to place them in rows and at right +angles, in order to admit of cultivating both ways, as it is termed, +thereby saving as much hand labor as possible. For the first two or +three years after planting, all weeds and grass should be kept away +from the stems and over the roots, either by frequent hoeing, or +covering with a mulch. The best way, perhaps, to prevent the growth +of weeds, is to use the land among the trees for some low-growing +crops, such as beans, tomatoes, melons or potatoes, then see that +the workmen, when hoeing these crops, hoe up the weeds and grass +about the trees at the same time. We might reasonably suppose that +the most careless cultivator of trees would think of this, but, +unfortunately, extended observation proves quite the contrary, and +it is scarcely possible to go through any very extensive +fruit-growing region without seeing many such instances of neglect. +A square yard or more of tough sward is frequently left for years +undisturbed about the stems of all the trees in an orchard, while +the little annual plants growing near by, and not worth, at an +extreme valuation, five cents each, are cultivated with the greatest +care. + +The first pruning of the trees should be done at the time of +transplanting from the nursery rows, as directed on a preceding +page, and from the top of the stem only three or four shoots allowed +to grow the first season, all others being rubbed off as soon as +they appear, or when they have made a growth of two or three inches. +These three or four upper branches are to become the foundation of +the future head of the tree, and should be allowed to grow unchecked +the first season; the next spring cut back one-half to two-thirds of +their original length. This pruning will force out strong side or +lateral shoots near the base, thus giving a sturdy foundation to +build upon later, the pruner keeping in mind that the weaker the +growth the more severe should be the pruning. Better leave a few +strong buds, from which vigorous shoots will be produced, than a +great number succeeded by many feeble twigs. If blossoms and fruit +appear on the young two-year-old trees, a limited number may be left +to mature, although no considerable crop ought to be gathered before +the third year. + +In after years a somewhat different system of pruning may be +adopted, keeping in view the fact that the fruit buds and fruit are +always produced on the young shoots of the previous season's growth, +and for this reason an annual renewal of such parts of the tree is +absolutely required, in order to secure a good crop on trees of any +age. In some localities and countries it may be possible that almond +trees produce a crop every year; but this is scarcely to be expected +anywhere. Consequently a system of pruning should be followed which +will conform to the variations of circumstances and conditions; and +this brings us to the consideration of-- + +=The Proper Time to Prune.=--If the growth of the trees and their +fruiting were always uniform, then we might readily adopt some +invariable system and season for pruning; but as we are dealing with +uncertainties, our rules must be equally flexible and variable. If +the season is favorable, and the trees bloom freely and fruit sets +abundantly, we may proceed to prune as soon as the embryo nuts are +as large as peas,--but only cutting back some of the largest bearing +shoots, and thinning out others here and there, just enough to +equalize and evenly distribute the crop through the head of the +tree. But in case the frost or cold of winter has destroyed the crop +for the season, then as soon as this is discovered, prune and cut +back all the shoots and branches sufficient to insure a vigorous +growth of young bearing wood for the ensuing year. Under this system +of pruning we fix the time as after blooming in the spring, in order +to have our work correspond to circumstances and conditions, and +where there is a crop in prospect the pruning is comparatively +light; but if there is to be no fruit, or but little, then one +should aim to produce an abundance of bearing shoots for the +following season. In other words, we prune severely in non-bearing +years, whether they occur alternately or otherwise; but this system +is only applicable to trees like the almond and peach, which produce +their fruit on the shoots of the preceding year's growth. + + +VARIETIES OF THE ALMOND. + +Almonds are usually divided into three groups, viz.: Bitter, +hard-shelled, and soft, or paper-shelled. In each there are many +varieties, although they are rarely known in market except by the +general name of the group to which they belong. If they are soft, +hard or bitter, this is sufficient designation for commercial +purposes, with, perhaps, the addition of the name of country in +which they were grown, or that of the city or seaport from whence +exported. + +=Bitter Almond=, _Amygdalus communis amara_.--The varieties of this +group are not specifically distinct, and some have soft, thin +shells, while others are thick and hard; but the kernels are very +bitter, hence the name. But in the countries where these almonds are +most extensively cultivated, as in the South of France, Austria, +Spain and Greece, the trees are generally raised from the nut, and, +as might be expected, the crop produced under such conditions is +exceedingly variable, the nuts being large or small, and the shells +of various degrees of hardness, with an occasional tree producing +both bitter and sweet kerneled nuts. These wilding trees are, in the +main, more hardy than the improved varieties, hence are largely +employed as stocks for the better sorts, as well as for the plum and +apricot. It is also claimed that, as a rule, the bitter almond trees +bloom later in the spring than those of the other two groups, and +for this reason are not so liable to be injured by spring frosts. +The trees are hardy in all of our most favorable peach-growing +regions of the Middle and Northern States, but some of the varieties +ripen rather too late for localities north of the latitude of New +York city. All this, however, and other obstacles, will soon +disappear, whenever the time arrives for our horticulturists to take +up almond culture and pursue it with half the zeal they have the +cultivation of the peach and many other kinds of fruits. + +=Hard-Shelled Almond=, _A. c. dulcis_, or sweet-kerneled +almond.--The varieties of this group, as a whole, differ from those +of the next only in the firmness of their shells, which are +moderately firm, with a slightly rough and deeply pitted surface, as +shown in Fig. 7. Varieties of this group are fully as large as, and +perhaps a little longer than the thin-shelled, and the kernels are +fully as valuable when removed and sold as shelled almonds. It may +require a little more labor to crack and remove the kernels for +market, but the difference is scarcely worth taking into +consideration by the grower. + +The common sweet, hard-shelled almond thrives in peach-growing +regions as far north as Central New York, and I well remember of +seeing trees loaded with these nuts, in my boyhood days, in the +western part of the State. The late Patrick Barry, in the Fruit +Garden, when referring to this nut, says: "This is a hardy and +productive tree, succeeding well in the climate of Western New York, +and still farther north. Nut very large, with a hard shell and a +large sweet kernel; ripe here (Rochester) about the first of +October. The tree is very vigorous, has smooth, glaucous leaves, and +when in bloom in the spring is more brilliant and showy than any +other fruit tree." + +[Illustration: FIG. 7. HARD-SHELLED ALMOND.] + +Nearly every one of our noted horticulturists who have said anything +about almond culture in the North, agree with Mr. Barry in regard to +the beauty of this tree and its productiveness; but it is well to +keep in mind that it is no more to be depended upon than the peach, +and the barren years will far outnumber the bearing ones. But the +almond is probably as certain here as in France, where it is +cultivated extensively as an article of commerce, although a full +crop once in about five years is about all that is expected. We can +probably do much better than this, especially if proper attention is +given to the production of new varieties adapted to our climate, as +has been done in California with the almond, and here in the East +with the peach and many other kinds of fruits; and when such have +been secured, proceed to multiply them in the usual mode of budding +upon seedling stocks. + +=Soft, or Brittle-Shelled=, _A. c. fragilis_.--In this group we have +many distinct varieties, besides others which are known by local +names, but have no permanent and pronounced distinguishing +characteristics that would aid in separating them, should this be +desired. The most common form, widely known as the sweet-kerneled +thin-shelled (Fig. 8), is one of the oldest in cultivation in +European countries. The flowers usually appear with the leaves, or +before they unfold, and are large and of a pale rose color. The tree +is rather tender for latitudes north of Philadelphia, but succeeds +southward, and westward to the Pacific, if late frosts do not come +to destroy the flowers or embryo nuts. + +[Illustration: FIG. 8. THIN-SHELLED ALMOND.] + +=Large Fruited Almond=, _A. c. macrocarpa_.--This is an old French +variety, and perhaps most widely known as the Sultana, although the +latter name is often applied in market to almost every variety of +sweet almond. The leaves of the genuine variety are much broader +than those of the preceding groups, and are smooth and deep green. +Flowers very large and showy, of a pale rose color, and always +appear in spring before the leaves, and for this reason it has long +been cultivated in England as an ornamental tree. Fruit large, +depressed or flattened at the base, but pointed at the top. Shell +rather hard and firm, and will withstand rough handling and +transportation long distances. Kernel very sweet and tender, hence +highly prized everywhere. There are several sub-varieties; one, +known as the Pistache almond, is highly esteemed for the table, on +account of its delicate flavor, although it is very small and not +popular for commercial purposes. + +=The Peach Almond=, _A. c. persicoides_.--This is another old +variety, described by Du Hamel about the middle of the last century, +under the name of _Amandier-Pecher_, or peach-leaved almond. Leaves +similar to those of the common peach. Fruit ovate, obtuse; husk +slightly succulent; shell of a yellowish color, and the kernel +sweet-flavored and excellent. Du Hamel says the fruit varies widely, +even upon the same tree or branch, some having a dry, thin husk, +while on others it is soft and fleshy, somewhat like that of the +peach. As the almond and peach are of the same species, it would not +be at all strange if an occasional variety raised from the seed of +either class should diverge towards, or even pass completely over to +a closely allied group. + +From the varieties found in the forementioned groups we must seek to +find, or produce therefrom, those which will succeed in this country +wherever it may be thought desirable to attempt the cultivation of +this nut. So far as my knowledge extends, no attempts have, as yet, +been made to produce distinct American varieties in the Eastern +States, as with its near relative, the peach, but all the almonds +thus far cultivated here are of well-known foreign varieties. +Perhaps the demand for almond trees has not been sufficient +heretofore to encourage very extended experiments in this direction, +but I cannot believe that our people will continue for another +century to import millions of pounds annually of almonds if it is +possible to raise them in this country. That it is possible on the +Pacific coast has already been fully demonstrated, but we want to +see the field greatly enlarged, and give the people of the Eastern +States a share in what is evidently soon to become a large and +profitable industry. + +=Ornamental Varieties of the Almond.=--These are only referred to +because some of the many in cultivation belong to the groups +producing the most valuable nuts, but the greater part of the purely +ornamental varieties are worthless for other purposes. _Amygdalus +cochinchinensis_ grows to quite a large tree in its native country, +or thirty to forty feet high; flowers small, white, produced in long +racemes; tender._ A. orientalis_, a small shrub, with grayish or +hoary leaves, and small rose-colored flowers; sometimes cultivated +under the name of _argentea_, or Silvery almond. _A. incana_ (hoary) +is another dwarf species, from the Caucasus, with solitary red +flowers. _A. nana_ and _A. pumila_ are oriental species of very +dwarf shrubs, with either red or white flowers. The double-flowering +varieties of these have long been inhabitants of our gardens. + +=Properties and Uses.=--For domestic purposes the almond is highly +esteemed wherever it is known, and is employed in hundreds of +different ways in the preparation of appetizing dishes and dainties +for the table. In countries where this nut is in cultivation, it is +brought to the table in the half-opened green husk, for at this time +the kernels are just passing from the milky stage, and are +considered more readily digested than later, or when fully ripe. But +it is only when they are fully mature that they are gathered for +market, and after thorough drying they are placed in strong sacks +and distributed among dealers in all parts of the world. But only +certain varieties are exported in this condition, and principally +those with very thin shells, because these are most in demand, for +the table and dessert, where the almond is not a home product. Other +sweet varieties, whether with very hard or very tender shells, are +cracked and only the kernels exported. The importation of shelled +almonds into this country is somewhat in excess of the unshelled, +and as they are of greater value per pound, the duty levied is +proportionally higher. There is also a great saving to the importer +and consumer,--not only in freight, but the extraction of the +kernels is done in countries where labor is abundant and cheap. +Whether the almond shells are used for any purpose in European +countries, or are considered as wholly a waste product, I have been +unable to learn, but it is asserted, and by men whose word is worthy +of credence, that almond shells ground into a fine golden colored +flour, is much used in this country for adulterating red pepper, +cinnamon and other spices. + +Almonds are not only used extensively at all times and seasons, by +persons of all ages and sexes, at table and elsewhere, but they are +employed largely in the making of fancy confectionery with sugar, or +in the form of salted almonds, the kernels having been first +thoroughly steamed or scalded, to remove the skin, and then rolled +or dusted with fine salt. Prepared in this way they are usually +considered more readily digestible and healthful than in their +natural state. + +Sweet almonds are also valued in the form of emulsions, as a +medicine in pulmonary disorders, and the oil of almonds is a common +standard article in the stock of druggists everywhere, as it enters +into the composition of cosmetics, syrups, pastes and powders of +various kinds. + +The kernels of the wild bitter almond contain a poisonous principle +known as hydrocyanic or Prussic acid, which does not exist in the +sweet varieties, although found in their leaves and the bark of +their twigs. But as bitter almonds are not palatable, there is +little danger of anyone being poisoned from eating them, should +these nuts ever be cultivated here for any special purpose, as in +other countries. + +=Insects and Diseases.=--Whenever the almond tree becomes common +here in orchards it will doubtless suffer from the attacks of the +same kinds of natural enemies as affect the peach. One of the most +widely distributed of these pests is the common peach-tree borer. +The parents of these borers are small, slender-bodied, bluish, +transparent-winged moths, the male somewhat smaller than the female. +These moths usually appear in this latitude during the month of +June, and the female deposits her eggs on the stems of the trees +near the surface of the ground, or a little below it if she can find +a convenient opening to suit her purpose. The eggs deposited soon +hatch, and the young larvæ bore through the tender bark at this +point, and when fairly under it, branch off, cutting galleries +through the soft alburnum underneath. When a number of these borers +are at work on the same tree they sometimes girdle and kill it the +first season, especially if it is young or a small specimen. But if +the tree is not killed outright it will show, by the check to its +growth, that borers are at work. The borers continue feeding +throughout the remainder of the season, and up to the time freezing +weather sets in for the winter, and if not full grown at this time +they will finish their growth early in spring, then crawl to near +the outside, or just under the old bark, and there spin a thin +cocoon, in which they are transformed to the pupal stage, remaining +in this form for a few weeks, then issuing in the winged or moth +stage. + +In the line of preventives and remedies there is nothing better than +clean cultivation about the trees, and annual examination of each +tree early in summer and the crushing of every borer found. The next +best thing, in the way of a preventive, is to wrap the stems from a +little below the surface of the ground to a foot or more above it +with heavy paper, cloth, or bark of some kind, to keep the moth from +laying her eggs on the bark of the tree. I have used common tar +paper for this purpose, not only because it is very cheap and does +not decay when exposed to the weather, but the exhalation or odor of +tar seems to be offensive to the moths. In the use of this material +I have never found that it was in the least injurious to the bark +underneath. Painting the stems with soap, cement, clay, or even +common mineral paints, will answer very well if a little care is +given to keeping down the number of insects by removing the larger +part of the borers with knife or gouge. + +In recent years a pest known as the "shot-hole borer" (_Scolytus +rugulosus_) has appeared in many and widely separated localities, in +both the Eastern and Western States, attacking the almond, peach and +plum tree. It is supposed to have been introduced from Europe with +imported nursery stock, and thence rapidly distributed, by similar +means, through the country. In its perfect stages it is a minute +brown beetle, about one-twelfth of an inch long and one-thirtieth of +an inch in diameter. This pest appears about midsummer, boring +numerous minute holes through the bark and into the sapwood +underneath, and in this the female deposits her eggs, and from these +are hatched the little grubs found later feeding on the soft inner +bark and alburnous matter beneath it. From every hole made in the +bark a small globule of gum will soon appear, drying upon the +surface--thence onward until autumn--and glistening in the sun, an +immutable sign of the presence of a minute but destructive enemy. + +When the beetles and their eggs are once in possession there is no +practical way known of removing them, and the best thing to be done +is to cut down and burn every infested tree, and just as soon as it +is known to be in this condition. There are also several indigenous +species of bark beetles, which will very likely attack almond trees +as soon as they are as abundant as peach trees, but all may be +destroyed with the same, or very similar weapons and materials. + +What are called preventives consist mainly of substances to be +applied to the stems in a semi-liquid form, and of such a nature as +to be offensive to the beetles because of their odor, taste, or +because so hard that the insects cannot cut through them with their +mandibles. Common lime whitewash, soft soap, whale-oil soap, or a +thin mineral paint made of pure linseed oil, will answer very well +for this purpose if applied often enough to keep the bark constantly +coated. + +Of the fungous diseases affecting the almond in this country, very +little is as yet known, although we may safely include under this +head all those that have been inimical to the peach, for the +transition from this tree to the almond would only be a natural +sequence. The peach-leaf curl (_Taphrina deformans_) would not be +far from home on the almond leaf, neither could we expect that +almond orchards would be wholly exempt from that mysteriously +distributed and uncontrollable disease known as "peach yellows." + +In California an almond-leaf blight has already appeared and +seriously affected the trees in some of the orchards. It is caused +by a fungus known as _Cercospora circumscissa_ Sacc. This fungus +attacks the leaves and young twigs, causing the former to fall off +early in the season, thereby checking the growth of the tree and +preventing the maturing of the fruit. It is thought that remedies +may be applied to check this disease, and there will probably be +some form of copper solution employed for destroying it, as with +various species of fungi on other kinds of fruit trees. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE BEECHNUT. + + +Fagus, _Linn._ The Beech. The Latin name of the genus (_Fagus_) +supposed to be an equivalent of the Greek phegos, an oak, or it may +be derived from _phago_, to eat; the nuts of this tree having been +used as food by man in all ages and countries where it is a native. +The modern English name, beech, was probably derived from the +Anglo-Saxon _bece_ or _boc_; in Dutch it is _beuk_; French, _hetre_; +Icelandic, _beyk_; Danish, _bog_; Swedish, _bok_; German, _buche_ or +_buoche_; Russian, _buk_; Italian, _faggio_; Armenian, _fao_; and in +Welsh _ffawydd_. + +The beech belongs to the order _Cupuliferæ_, or oak family. The +genus contains about fifteen species of handsome deciduous and +evergreen trees, or shrubs, very widely distributed throughout the +temperate and colder regions of both the northern and southern +hemispheres. Male flowers are bell-shaped, in long-stalked drooping +heads; calyx five to seven cleft, containing numerous stamens. +Female flowers two to four in a cluster on the summit of the +scaly-bracted peduncle; the inside scales uniting, forming a +four-lobed involucre of imbricated bracts, the whole becoming at +maturity a somewhat prickly, scaly bur, within which are found a +pair of sharp-edged triangular nuts, containing a tender and +sweet-flavored kernel. + +=History of the Beech.=--The common beeches of both Europe and North +America are so closely related that the two species may be +considered as one for all practical purposes, such as propagation, +cultivation, and value of the wood and nuts. It is true, however, +that our native beech is not environed with ancient myths and +stories of love and war, neither is it celebrated in poetry and +song, yet it has, doubtless, played just as noble a part in human +affairs among the pre-historic races of America as those recorded of +its European contemporary. As the beech in Europe is found in the +forests of Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, and +southward to Constantinople, Palestine, Asia Minor and Armenia, it +was well known and highly appreciated by all the early inhabitants +of these countries, and is frequently referred to by the earlier +writers of Greece and Rome who touch upon the rural affairs of their +times. It is supposed that Theophrastus refers to the beech under +the name of _Oxua_, and Dioscorides as _Phegos_, and the latter +author places it among the oaks, in which he was not far out of the +way, because the beech is a member of the oak family in our modern +classification. Virgil and Pliny speak highly of the little +triangular nuts, and the people of their times set considerable +value upon beech-nuts as an article of food. Pliny also assures us +that at the siege of Chios, the besieged inhabitants lived for some +time entirely on these nuts. We are inclined to think, however, that +both Virgil and Pliny are in error when they tell us that the beech +was propagated by being grafted on the chestnut. They were probably +led astray in this by some romancing gardener of their time, for we +even have some of the same ilk with us at this day. Pliny refers to +the beech several times in his writings, and places a much higher +value upon this nut than he does upon the chestnut; in fact, speaks +rather contemptuously of the latter, and seems to be surprised that +nature should have taken such care of the nuts, which he calls +"_vilissima_," as to enclose them with a prickly involucre or bur. + +But my limited space will not allow of tracing the history of the +beech from ancient to modern times, although it has always been +esteemed as food for man, as well as for wild and domesticated +animals. Swine fattened on beech and oak mast have for ages been +noted for their excellent flesh, and the value of many an old estate +in Great Britain was determined more upon the mast the forest +produced, than the area or number of square miles they contained. + +As a monumental tree the beech has no rival, for its smooth gray +bark, perennial and almost unchangeable, has ever been a convenient +place to register challenges to enemies, epitaphs, epithets, and +probably more frequently than all, the initials of the name of some +loved one, who might possibly pass that way and find her name +engraved on the beechen tree. I doubt much if there is a beech grove +in all Europe or in America, within a convenient distance of a city, +country village or schoolhouse, on which the bark of the trees is +not scarified by the knives of boys in recording the initials of +their own names, and those of their favorites of the opposite sex. +These living registers were long ago recognized by the poets, and +more than eighteen centuries ago Virgil admits it in these lines: + + "Or shall I rather the sad verse repeat, + Which on the beech's bark I lately writ." + +In more modern times Tasso hints of the same habit, in _Jerusalem +Delivered_, to wit: + + "On the smooth beechen rind, the pensive dame + Carves in a thousand forms her Tancred's name." + +That the Spanish youths were not oblivious to their opportunities +for recording the names of their favorites we must assume to be +true, from the lines of Don Luis de Gongora, who tells us that: + + "Not a beech but bears some cipher, + Tender word, or amorous text. + If one vale sounds Angelina, + Angelina sounds the next." + +=Propagation of the Beech.=--The beech, in all its species and +varieties, may be propagated by the usual modes, viz.: By seed, +layers, budding and grafting. The seeds, when gathered, should be +mixed with clean, sharp, moist sand, placed in boxes, and then +stored in a cool or cold place and carefully protected from mice, +until the time arrives for sowing in spring. They may also be sown +in the fall and lightly covered with leaf mold or other light soil, +but unless coated with tar or some offensive poisonous substance, +vermin of some form will be very likely to find them and leave few +to grow. Seedlings are used for stocks upon which to work the many +varieties in cultivation; but as I am not writing this for the +encouragement of propagators of purely ornamental trees, I will omit +giving any very extended description of the different modes of +propagating the beech, further than to say that should remarkably +fine varieties with extra-sized nuts be discovered or produced, they +can be perpetuated and multiplied by the same processes adopted for +other kinds of nut trees. + +=Soil and Location.=--The beeches of Northern countries, in their +many varieties, thrive best in a cool, moist soil, for their roots +rarely penetrate very deeply, but spread out widely and near the +surface, forming an intricate network, which will try the patience +of the woodman who attempts to clear away a forest of beech and +break up the ground. In this country, as well as in Europe, the +beech thrives in calcareous soils, or what is usually termed +limestone regions; consequently, when transplanted or raised in +sandy soils, or on the red sandstone formation, light applications +of lime are usually found very beneficial; but more than all, the +beech requires moisture, and if not planted in a moist soil the +surface over the roots should be kept constantly covered with some +kind of mulch. + +=Species and Varieties of the Beech.=--In the Dictionary of +Gardening, edited by George Nicholson, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, +Kew, England, the following species of Fagus are briefly described, +viz: + +_F. antarctica._--Leaves ovate, blunt, glabrous, attenuated at the +base, doubly dentate, alternate, petiolate, one and a half inches +long. A small deciduous tree or shrub, with rugged, tortuous +branches. Native of Tierra del Fuego, S. A. + +_F. betuloides_ (birch-like). Evergreen beech.--Leaves ovate, +elliptic, obtuse crenulate, leathery, shining glabrous, round at the +base or short footstalks. An evergreen tree, native of Tierra del +Fuego, S. A. + +_F. ferruginea_ (rusty). American beech.--Leaves ovate, acuminate, +thickly toothed, downy beneath, ciliate on the margin. A large +deciduous tree, very closely resembling the common European species, +from which it is distinguished by its longer, thinner and less +shining leaves. + +_F. obliqua_ (oblique). Chile beech.--Leaves ovate, oblong, oblique, +somewhat rhomboid, blunt, doubly serrated, entire at the base, +attenuated into the petiole, and somewhat downy. A hardy deciduous +tree, native of the cooler elevated regions of Chile, S. A. + +_F. sylvatica_ (sylvan). European beech.--Leaves oblong, ovate, +obscurely toothed; margin ciliate. A well-known large deciduous +tree, widely distributed in Europe from Norway southward to Asia +Minor. From this species a large number of ornamental varieties have +been produced, many of them merely accidental variations of the wild +forms of the forests, while others have originated in the seedbeds +of nurserymen. But so far as I am aware, no variety has ever been +introduced bearing superior or improved forms of nuts. + +Our American beech (_F. ferruginea_) is a widely distributed tree, +extending from Nova Scotia in the north, south to Florida, and +westward to Wisconsin and Missouri. Formerly it was exceedingly +abundant, but like many other of our most valuable forest trees, it +is disappearing before the axe of the woodman, who has always found +a ready sale for beech timber. It is used in the manufacture of +plane stocks, shoe lasts, handles for paring chisels, and hundreds +of similar articles. Beech wood is hard, firm, and takes a good +polish, but is not very flexible. It makes excellent fuel, and ranks +next in value to hard maple and hickory for this purpose. In the +more northern States and where the beech grows to its largest size, +the heartwood is usually of a reddish color; but here in New Jersey +and farther south, the wood is usually white almost to the center of +the tree, no matter how large it may be. The color of the wood, +however, does not in any way detract from its value, for fuel and +many other purposes, although some European dendrologists have been +deceived into supposing that the white beech was almost or quite +worthless. Loudon, in _Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum_, Vol. +III, in referring to our beech, says: "The wood of the white beech +is little valued in America, even for fuel; and the bark is used for +tanning, but is little esteemed," etc. But if any one, in these +later years, has had occasion to purchase beech timber for any +purpose, he has probably learned, from the price charged, that it is +esteemed, even for such base purposes as firewood. + +I am not, however, attempting to extol the American beech as a +timber tree, but ask that it be given a place among the select +ornamental nut-bearing kinds. And I think every farmer who has a +pasture lot could afford a place for at least one beech tree, and if +there is a low, moist spot in the field, or a stony corner, this +will be a suitable place for such a tree; and the horses, cattle or +sheep out in pasture during hot days in summer will be very grateful +for the shade which a wide-spreading specimen will give them. It may +be that the owner of said pasture may recall the lines of Garcilaso: + + "But in calm idlesse laid, + Supine in the cool shade + Of oak or ilex, beech or pendant pine, + Sees his flocks feeding stray, + Whitening a length of way, + Or numbers up his homeward-tending kine." + +He may be sure of one thing, and that is, the beech-nuts produced by +one or many trees will always be acceptable to the children, and of +these hungry mortals there is likely to be a few, at least, roaming +about in ages to come, as in times past. + +The beech is not really a desirable tree to plant on a lawn or near +one's dwelling, because of its persistent foliage, which clings to +the twigs very late in winter, and the rustling of the wind through +the dry leaves is not soothing to one's nerves, although not quite +as dismal as the moaning pines. In summer, and until late in autumn, +the American beech is a noble and graceful tree,--and if I may be +allowed the expression, one of the cleanest of trees; its large, +thin, bright-green and glossy leaves retain none of the dust and +cast-off material of other trees which may be floating through the +air, but are ever bright and pure. The tree has naturally +wide-spreading and somewhat drooping branches, and should be given +plenty of room for development when planted for the nuts or as an +ornamental tree. Its leaves and the small slender branchlets (Fig. +9) are eaten with avidity by all kinds of farm animals; +consequently, protection may be required until the trees have +reached a hight to be safe from such depredators. + +Beech seedlings do not usually come into bearing in less than twenty +to thirty years, but as no one in this country has ever attempted to +cultivate this tree for its nuts, or search our forests for +precocious and superior varieties, we have to admit that the field +remains unexplored, and as barren of results as it was when our +ancestors first discovered America. Every hunter, woodman, farmer +and botanist who has roamed through forests where the beech trees +grow, is well aware of the fact that distinct varieties are not at +all rare, some having nuts twice the size of others in the same +woods or groves, and it is possible and probable that some nut +culturist in the near future will find time to select these choice +wild varieties for cultivation and propagation. It would not, in my +opinion, be beneath the dignity of our national department of +agriculture, or some of its numerous costly annexes, to occasionally +take into consideration the natural products of this great country, +and determine, by a series of experiments, whether or no they were +not worthy of attention. + +[Illustration: FIG. 9. BEECHNUT LEAF, BUR AND NUT.] + +=Insects Injurious to the Beech.=--No disease has, as yet, been +known to seriously affect the beech, and as for insect enemies, it +probably has a less number than any other denizen of our forests. It +is true that transplanted trees, and those left exposed by cutting +away protecting neighbors, are sometimes attacked by borers in the +stem, branches and twigs, but these enemies naturally follow in the +train of debility, it being one of the immutable economic laws of +nature to hasten the demise and decomposition of the half-starved or +otherwise enfeebled members of both the animal and vegetable +kingdom. + +Isolated beech trees growing by the roadsides in parks and fields +are occasionally attacked by a large grayish, long-horn beetle, the +_Goes pulverulenta_. It is about one inch long, and a rather sturdy +beetle of a light grayish color, and usually infests the branches, +but may occasionally attack the main stem. It is not abundant, and +has seldom been found infesting the beech. There are also two or +three borers of the Buprestis family of beetles which occasionally +attack beech trees. They are distinguished by the broad heads and +flattened bodies of the grubs, and they work just beneath the bark +in the sapwood, causing dead patches, mainly on the south side of +the stem and larger branches. If the dead bark is removed and the +wounds painted they will soon heal over, unless the tree is +suffering for moisture and nutrients at the roots. A few twig +borers, with an occasional colony of caterpillars on the leaves, +embody about all the insect enemies of the beech calling for any +special attention, but there are a host of different species and +kinds ever ready to pounce upon a sickly or dead tree, whether found +in the field or forest. + +=Properties and Uses.=--The beechnut has been so long and favorably +known that very little need be said here in regard to its properties +and uses. In the forests it affords food for many kinds of birds, +such as the wild turkey, partridge or grouse, and especially the +pigeon, and immense flocks of these collect in the beech forests in +autumn to feed upon the nuts. Deer are very fond of these nuts, and +so are all of the squirrel family, and the little ground squirrel or +chipmunk, _Tamias striatus_, of our Northern States, gives us a good +practical lesson in the way of preserving the nuts over winter. +These little rodents pack away the nuts in small pockets in their +burrows and from two to three feet below the surface, where they are +protected from excessive moisture and any considerable change of +temperature. The chipmunk always stores the nuts in the ground, and +not in hollow logs, as is sometimes asserted. The deer-mouse +(_Hesperomys leucopus_), however, does select such places for +putting away his winter's supply, but more frequently he chooses a +hollow in the stem of some old tree, and several feet from the +ground. Unlike the chipmunk, this mouse cleans the shells from the +kernels, storing only the latter, and I have often found a quart or +more when cutting down trees in winter. These kernels are usually so +clean, bright, and free from odor, that it is to be feared the +finder always confiscates them for his own use. + +As the beechnut contains considerable oil, many schemes have been +set on foot, in European countries, for its extraction and use as a +salad oil. Early in the last century (1721) Aaron Hill, an English +poet, proposed to pay off the national debt from the profits to be +derived from the manufacture of beechnut oil; but his scheme fell +through, like many others of its kind. It is also stated that Henry +Fielding, so well known by his delightful stories of English +society, once speculated rather largely on the manufacture of +beechnut oil. In France, however, beechnut oil was formerly made in +considerable quantities, and used in cooking fish and as a salad +oil. In Silesia it is used by the country people instead of butter, +and the cakes which remain from the pressure are given to fatten +swine, oxen and poultry. The forests of Eu and of Crécy, in the +department of the Oise, it is stated by Duhamel du Monceau, have +yielded, in a single season, more than 2,000,000 bushels of mast, +but probably this referred to all kinds of nuts, and not beech-nuts +alone. Years later, or in 1779, Michaux states that the forests of +Compiègne, near the Verberie department of the Somme, afforded oil +enough to supply the wants of the district for more than half a +century. In some parts of France beech-nuts are roasted and served +as a substitute for coffee. Many of these old forests have +disappeared, but other kinds of nut trees are still being planted in +France, and the product is simply enormous, and a source of wealth +to the peasant, as well as the owners of extensive forests and +orchards. + +The beechnut has never been an article of commerce in this country, +and it is rarely seen on sale in either country villages or our +larger cities, not because of its scarcity or want of demand, but +all that the country boys and girls find time to gather are wanted +for their own pleasure and use. Picking up beech-nuts among the +leaves in a forest, or even after raking off the leaves and then +whipping the trees, is, at best, slow and rather tedious work, as I +know full well from experience, and only once do I remember of +having secured a rounded half bushel as the sum total of many raids +on the beech trees in the neighborhood. But as the beechnut is the +diamond among the larger and less precious gems of our forests, we +should set a higher value upon it because small and rather difficult +to obtain. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CASTANOPSIS. + +California chestnut. Western chinquapin. Evergreen chestnut. + + +Castanopsis, Spach. Name derived from _Castanea_, the chestnut. +Order, _Cupuliferæ_. A genus of evergreen shrubs and trees, +intermediate between the oaks (_Quercus_) and the chestnuts +(_Castanea_). There are about a dozen species indigenous to Eastern +Asia and the adjacent islands. Blume, in "Flora Javae," Vol. II, +1828-36, describes three species under _Castanea_, which he found in +the mountains and more elevated regions of the Javanese islands. +Very little, however, is known of these oriental evergreen chestnuts +outside of the herbariums of professional botanists, and they are +rarely referred to, even in standard botanical dictionaries, or +dictionaries of gardening, and when mentioned they are usually +placed in the genus _Castanea_. Edouard Spach, a half-century or +more ago, gave a synopsis of the genus, for which he proposed the +name of _Castanopsis_, and although not recognized by botanists in +general for a number of years, it is now accepted by botanical +authorities everywhere. We have but one indigenous species, and this +on the Pacific coast, viz: + +[Illustration: FIG. 10. LEAVES AND NUT OF CASTANOPSIS CHRYSOPHYLLA.] + +_Castanopsis chrysophylla_, A. de Candolle. _Castanea chrysophylla_, +Douglas. _Castanea sempervirens_, Kellogg. + + "Leaves coriaceous, evergreen, lanceolate or oblong, one to four + inches long, acuminate or only acutish (Fig. 10), cuneate at + base and shortly petioled, entire green and glabrous above or + somewhat scurfy, densely scurfy beneath, with none or few yellow + scales; male aments one to three inches long, densely pubescent; + styles three, stout, glabrous, divergent; fruiting involucre + with stout divergent spines (Fig. 11) one-half to one inch long, + subverticillately many branched; nut usually solitary, obversely + triangular, six lines long."--"Geological Survey of California," + Botany, Vol. II, p. 100. + + "This handsome broad-leaved evergreen tree is indigenous to the + elevated regions, from Monterey, California, northward to the + Columbia river in Oregon. It is also common in the Sierra + Nevadas at elevations of six thousand feet, but in its southern + limits rarely below ten thousand feet elevation."--C. S. Sargent + ("Woods of the United States"). + +In the warmer and drier regions of California it is a mere shrub two +to six feet high, and these dwarf forms have, in some instances, +been described as varieties. As, for instance, _Castanea +chrysophylla_, var. _minor_, Bentham; _C. chrysophylla_, var. +_minor_, A. de Candolle; and _C. chrysophylla_, var. _pumila_, +Vasey. But northward, where the climate is more moist, it becomes a +large tree fifty to one hundred and twenty feet high, with a stem +two to three feet in diameter. In its wide variation in habit of +growth, this western chinquapin is similar to our Eastern dwarf +chestnut, which is mainly a low shrub in the more Southern States, +but becomes a fair-sized tree in the Middle States, or near its +northern limits. + +[Illustration: FIG. 11. CASTANOPSIS BUR.] + +I have introduced the Western chinquapin here among the nut-bearing +trees, not with the idea that it will ever be extensively cultivated +for its edible nuts, but because it is a beautiful broad-leaved +evergreen tree, and of which we have far too few kinds in +cultivation to give warmth and a cheerful aspect to our gardens and +pleasure grounds in winter. It is true that, so far as can be +learned at this time, no extended experiments have ever been made to +introduce or cultivate the Castanopsis in the Atlantic States, +consequently nothing positive is known as to whether it will succeed +here or not. In its northernmost range it thrives in forests among +many kinds of trees and shrubs that are already common in our +gardens, and this leads me to think that specimens or seeds of this +tree procured from the mountains of northern Oregon will withstand +the rigors of our climate. + +Mr. S. B. Parsons writes me that he first saw _Castanopsis +chrysophylla_ in Kew Gardens (Eng.) thirty-five years ago, and +procured specimens, which were planted in his gardens at Flushing, +N. Y., but they failed, presumably because not hardy. It may be that +his specimens were raised from nuts procured in the warmer part of +California, and, as with many other Pacific coast plants, proved to +be tender, while later introductions of the same species collected +in colder localities have proved hardy here. In my experience I have +found a great difference in the hardiness of trees and plants +obtained from the higher and lower levels of the mountains from +Colorado westward to the Coast range, for in those regions +acclimation extending over thousands of years has developed and +fixed certain physiological attributes, which enables them to +readily adapt themselves to similar conditions elsewhere, especially +in the line of temperature. It may make no difference to those who +want plants for warm climates, whether they are obtained from +mountain or valley, but it certainly does to those who value +hardiness above all other merits. + +In horticultural matters we are supposed to confine ourselves within +certain natural lines in making experiments, but if we fail in one, +or one hundred, it proves little beyond the bare fact that we have +not been successful. I have experimented enough to have become +somewhat wary of deciding that a thing cannot be done, or is +impossible, because of my own and others' failures. Every practical +horticulturist can call to mind many productions which had evaded +the pursuit of experimenters for decades and even centuries. + +For specimens of the nuts, burs and plants of this handsome +nut-bearing tree I am indebted to Mr. J. J. Harden, of Stayton, +Oregon, who informs me that it grows in the mountains near by to a +very large size, and among such well-known kinds of shrubs and trees +as _Rhamnus Purshianus_, _Cornus Nuttalli_, _Corylus rostrata_, and +various species of conifers which are now more or less common in our +Eastern gardens and parks. The twigs and leaves are shown in Fig. +10, and below a nut, and in Fig. 11 a bur, all of natural size. The +small conical nut is slightly triangular, with a rather firm, +brittle shell, not fibrous as in the acorn and chestnut. The burs +are produced singly, but sometimes several on a twig, and when +mature, instead of opening by valves, as in the true chestnut, they +break up irregularly. The kernels are sweet and excellent flavored, +and are sought for by various kinds of birds, as well as by all the +squirrel tribe, and for this reason it is very difficult to procure +specimens, unless gathered before they are fully ripe. The nuts do +not mature the first season, but pass the winter in a partly +developed stage, usually ripening the second year about midsummer +or, in northern Oregon, in July. + +It is quite probable that this Castanopsis, when planted in the +Atlantic States, will require a little shade or protection, like the +American holly and similar broad-leaved evergreens, and while it may +not thrive anywhere north of Delaware and Maryland, it is worth +trying, as the sole native representative of a genus containing +several species of noble evergreen trees. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE CHESTNUT. + + +[Illustration: FIG. 12. CHESTNUT FLOWERS.] + +Castanea, _Tournefort_. The ancient classical name derived either +from Castanis, a town in Thessaly, or one in Pontius, as historians +disagree in regard to its derivation. The genus belongs to the order +_Cupuliferæ_. + +Male flowers irregularly clustered in long, naked, cylindrical +catkins from the axils of the leaves and on the new shoots of the +season. Calyx five or six parted; stamens or pollen-bearing organs +seven to fifteen; anther two-celled. On old, mature trees, the male +catkins are usually crowded near the end of the short new twigs, as +shown in Fig. 12, the terminal one productive; but on young thrifty +trees, wide apart. Female flowers always on and near the base of a +late-developed male catkin, sometimes two or three together,--or +even six or eight on the chinquapins,--oval or ovoid, scaly, +prickly, two- to four-valved involucre or bur; calyx usually with a +four- to six-lobed border crowning the three- to seven-celled ovary; +stigmas bristle-shaped, and as many in number as there are cells in +the ovary. Shell of the nut leathery, not brittle, ovoid, two or +more together in the larger species, in others solitary, or only one +in a bur. Kernel very thick, fleshy, and somewhat plaited, sweet and +edible. + +Both male and female flowers appear late in spring, the males +usually exceedingly so, exhaling a slightly nauseating odor. The +productive male catkins appear the latest, their base becoming the +rachis or stalk supporting the burs, this rather anomalous +arrangement appearing to be a natural provision to secure +fertilization in case the earlier catkins failed. + +The genus _Castanea_, as now restricted, contains shrubs and large +trees, with simple, alternate deciduous leaves, coarsely serrate, +with pointed spiny teeth. Indigenous, and widely distributed over +northern Africa, southern Europe, Asia and the eastern half of the +United States. + +The common English name of this nut is supposed to be derived from +the Anglo-Saxon _cystel_, chestnut, and _cyst-beam_ or +_cisten-beam_, chestnut tree; Old English, _chastein_ or _chesten_; +Old German, _chestinna_ or _kestinna_; Modern German, _kestene_ or +_kastanie_; French, _castaigne_ or _chataigne_; Provencal, +_castanha_; Spanish, _castana_; Italian, _castagna_, from the Latin +_castanea_. + +=History of the Chestnut.=--The so-called European chestnut is +supposed to be indigenous to Asia Minor, Armenia, Caucasus and +northern Africa, and from these countries it was introduced and +became naturalized throughout the greater part of temperate Europe, +where it has been cultivated from time immemorial. The Romans are +supposed to have distributed it northward through France and Great +Britain, and in the latter country there were trees centuries ago of +such large size that many of the early English authors claimed this +tree was indigenous. But in the absence of any natural forests of +chestnut, the claim had to be abandoned. In parts of France, Italy +and Spain, the chestnut has become thoroughly naturalized and, as we +may say, run wild, but as one of the early investigators says, in +speaking of the abundance of old chestnut trees on the Apennines, +they are generally scattered over the surface like trees on a +well-arranged lawn, and not crowded and massed, as they would be in +a state of nature or in a forest. On the south side of the Alps the +trees grow up to an altitude of twenty-five hundred feet, and on the +Pyrenees some two or three hundred feet higher. + +There are old trees of immense size almost everywhere in the milder +regions of Europe, and the celebrated monarchs of Etna have been +many times described by travelers. The largest measure one hundred +and eighty feet in circumference near the root. All the early Roman +writers who have anything to say about rural affairs, mention the +chestnut as one of their valuable trees, producing nuts used for +various purposes. Pliny enumerates eight varieties, but Columella +appears to place more value upon the timber, especially the sprouts, +for stakes, than he does on the nuts. But long before the Romans +began to cultivate the chestnut, the Greeks held it in high esteem +under the name of _Sardianos Balanos_ or Sardis nut, and still later +it was called _Dios Balanos Lopimon_. + +The European chestnut has been so frequently and extensively +referred to by ancient and modern authors that it would not be at +all difficult to fill a large volume with brief extracts from their +works, but my aim is not so much to show what has been done with +this nut in other countries as what we may do with it here. All +nations who have any experience with it admit its value as food for +many wild and domesticated animals, as well as for the human race, +and we know, from our long experience with the native species, that +it is highly esteemed wherever known, although it must be admitted +that our sparse population and the abundance of other kinds of food, +have tended to make us careless and neglectful of the indigenous +chestnut. + +It may be well, before dismissing this brief history of the +chestnut, to add that while nearly all the ancient authors, in +referring to it, employed its present scientific name of _Castanea_, +still, when botanists first attempted what has since been recognized +as the scientific classification of plants, many of them placed the +chestnut in the same genus as the beech, retaining the generic name +of _Fagus_ for both. + +Linnæus, in his _Systema Naturæ_, 1766, Vol. II, p. 630, describes +two species of the chestnut and one of beech in the genus _Fagus_, +although Tournefort, in his "History of Plants Growing About Paris," +published seventy years before that of Linnæus, had recognized the +distinctive characteristics of these two groups of nut trees, and he +adopted the present name of _Castanea_ for the generic name of the +chestnut, and _Fagus_ for that of the beech. But nearly all of the +English and earlier American botanists adopted and followed Linnæus +in his classification, ignoring the works of the earlier as well as +contemporaneous continental botanists. I merely refer to this matter +of botanical nomenclature because some of my readers may have +occasion to consult the earlier authors who describe American +plants, as, for instance, such works as John Clayton's "Flora of +Virginia," 1739, Thomas Walter's "Flora Caroliniana," 1787, or +Humphrey Marshall's "American Grove," 1785. In all of these, and +others, the chestnut is described as a species of beech (_Fagus_). + +=Propagation of the Chestnut.=--The usual mode of propagating the +chestnut is from seed, when trees are wanted for general planting or +for stocks upon which to graft improved and rare varieties. Under +some conditions and circumstances, it is best to plant the nuts soon +after they are ripe in autumn, and this appears to be the most +natural method; in fact, it is the way in which forests have been +produced and are constantly renewed and perpetuated, when man does +not interfere to prevent it. But nature is in no hurry in such +matters, while man always is, because his time is limited; +consequently, in our attempts at the multiplication and cultivation +of plants we aim to save both time and material, therefore cannot +afford to adopt nature's slow and wasteful processes. + +The principal objection to planting chestnuts in the fall is the +danger of having them destroyed by vermin, which abound almost +everywhere. There is also danger of the nuts sprouting prematurely +in the autumn, and of the young growth being killed by cold or by +excessive moisture during late fall rains. But these natural enemies +and obstacles prevent an excess in number and the overcrowding of +trees in our forests. It is, no doubt, possible and practicable to +smear the nuts with poisonous substances, or those sufficiently +offensive to prevent the depredations of vermin, but taking all +things into consideration, I am decidedly in favor of preserving the +nuts in bulk and in a dormant state until the season arrives for +insuring a rapid and continuous growth, and then planting them. To +do this in our cold northern climate, as well as in the South, +requires more care and attention with chestnuts than with the +harder-shelled kinds, like the walnut and hickory nut. As a rule, it +may be said that all the hardy kinds of nuts sprout at a rather low +temperature and a few degrees above the freezing point, and for this +reason it is well to select as cool a spot in the open ground as +possible for their winter quarters, and then examine them as early +as can be done conveniently in the spring. + +In this matter of manipulating and preserving chestnuts for +planting, as well as what follows in regard to transplanting, +pruning and grafting, I shall give my own practice, with results; +and while it may differ from that of other propagators, it is one +evolved from long experience, many successes, and a few failures. + +=Gathering and Assorting Nuts.=--When the nuts begin to ripen and +fall, gather as soon as possible, and if the trees are on your own +grounds and will admit of such an operation, thrash them and secure +the entire crop at once. The object of this early gathering is to +collect the false and weevil-infested specimens and destroy them. +But in whatever way the nuts are collected, they should be stored in +the shade and in shallow boxes, or spread out on a tight floor; but +the better way would be on screens over a floor, and then when the +grubs worked their way downward through the nuts and screen, they +would fall upon the floor, from which they could be taken up and +burned or otherwise destroyed. The nuts, while on the screen or +other receptacle, should be stirred over daily for two or three +weeks, and by that time they will be in good condition for either +planting or packing away for the winter. But before finally +disposing of the nuts in either way, they should be carefully looked +over, and every shrunken specimen, as well as all with punctured +shells from which the grubs have escaped, removed from among the +sound stock, because these damaged nuts are not only useless, but +are very likely to decay and affect all with which they come in +contact. It is not to be expected that by such means or handling we +can get rid of all the grubs enclosed in the nuts when gathered, for +there will always be a few not more than half grown at the time, and +these will remain hidden in the nuts until midwinter, or later, but +the greater part of the brood will reach maturity within two or +three weeks after the nuts are ripe. Of course, what is said here +about chestnut weevils is only applicable to chestnuts grown in this +country, but all species and varieties, when planted here, are +subject to the attacks of this pest--at least, everywhere in the +Eastern and Southern States. + +Having assorted the nuts carefully, the sound ones should be +reserved for planting; these should be mixed with or stratified with +moist, sharp sand, and stored in boxes of convenient size for +handling and examination, whenever this is required. In preparing +the boxes, bore a number of small holes through the bottom, and over +each of these lay a piece of a broken flower-pot, brick or stone, +then cover the bottom one inch deep with the moist sand, and on this +place a single layer of nuts, then fill in all interstices with +sand, and also use enough more to fairly cover the layer; and +proceed in this way until all the nuts are disposed of or the box is +full, covering the top layer one or two inches deep, because the +sand will settle some after the work seems complete. The boxes may +be covered with fine wire netting or with narrow strips of boards, +fitting these so that mice cannot get in, but should not be +air-tight. They may then be buried in the open ground, selecting +some knoll or dry spot for this purpose, for the nuts should not be +placed where they will be submerged, or even be watersoaked, at any +time during the fall, winter or early spring. If no such spot is +conveniently near, then set the boxes on the top of the ground, and +on the north side of some building or in the shade of an evergreen +tree, and bank over with soil, covering the boxes a foot deep. If +the spot selected is under the eaves of a building, place boards +over the heap of soil, to carry off the water, for the object is to +keep the nuts moderately moist, cool, and where they will not be +subjected to frequent changes of temperature. In our Northern States +the nuts, under such conditions, usually become frozen during the +coldest weather, but this does not injure them if the sand is moist +and they remain frozen, as there will be no danger of germination; +while if kept too warm, they may start to grow before the seedbed is +ready, in spring, for their reception. I have tried keeping the nuts +mixed with sand in a cool cellar, also in outbuildings, but have not +found any other place so certain as pits in the open ground. + +=Seedbed and Soil.=--It is well to have the seedbed prepared the +previous autumn, but it is not absolutely necessary. The soil for +the bed should be light, either sandy or loamy, and if not rich, +made so by adding very old and fine stable manure, or leaf mold from +the forest--I prefer the latter, as it is the most natural for all +kinds of seedling nut trees. Whatever fertilizing materials are +used, they should be placed on or near the surface, and never worked +in deeply, for our aim should be the production of side or lateral +fibers, and not coarse perpendicular roots. Furthermore, seedling +nut trees grown on light, sandy soils or in pure leaf mold, produce +a far greater number of small fibrous roots than on heavy soils, and +this is a decided advantage with those which are to be transplanted. + +=Planting the Nuts.=--When the time arrives for planting, take the +nuts from their winter quarters, and after sifting out the sand, sow +or drop them in drills, covering about two inches deep with fine +soil. With the small native varieties my practice has been to sow in +wide drills; that is, those made with the blade of a common garden +hoe, and of the same width, the nuts being scattered along the +bottom two to three inches apart. + +The soil is then drawn in over them and pressed down with the back +of the hoe, or by passing a light garden roller over the surface. If +the size of the seedbed is not limited, or only a small quantity of +nuts are to be sown, then the single row would be preferable, +because less hand weeding will be needed to subdue the weeds, and +for all the larger varieties I should certainly recommend it, +because they are of a more stocky growth. The distance allowed +between the drills will depend somewhat upon the implements to be +employed in cultivation, as well as how long the seedlings are to +remain in the seedbed before transplanting, but from two to three +feet will be found convenient for the ordinary modes of cultivation. + +If the seedlings make a fair average growth the first season they +will be from one to three feet high in the autumn, and as soon as +the leaves have fallen they may be taken up, or allowed to remain +until the following spring and then lifted. But if, from any cause, +they have made a feeble growth, it is better to let them remain in +the seedbed another year. Where large quantities of seedlings are +raised they are usually taken up with a tree-digger drawn by a span +of horses or mules, but with only a few hundred or a thousand to +dig, a common spade will answer every purpose; and if, when removed +from the seedbed, they are found to have produced long perpendicular +taproots, these should be shortened to about one-half their original +length. For instance, if these taproots are taken up entire and are +eighteen to twenty inches long, cut away the lower half, whether it +consists of one or more long perpendicular roots, as this pruning +will force the plants to produce a greater number of lateral roots, +and it is upon these we depend mainly for keeping our trees alive +and vigorous if transplanted when larger and older. All side +branches should be pruned off close to the main stem, for we aim to +favor the latter in its growth upward until it reaches the required +hight for either grafting or forming the future head of the tree. + +In taking up seedlings, it is not safe to leave them for any +considerable time exposed to the sun and drying winds, and they +should be carried either to a shed or other building while being +pruned, and also covered with blankets in the field, except during +moist, cloudy days. A very little drying of the small fibers on such +plants is always more or less injurious. + +=Planting in Nursery Rows.=--After the seedlings have been taken +from the seedbed and pruned, they should be set out in nursery rows, +four feet apart, and the plants about eighteen inches in the row. +Trenches should be opened for the reception of the plants, and wide +enough to allow all the roots to be spread out in a natural +position; and it is well to set a little deeper than the seedlings +were in the seedbed, because newly plowed ground will settle some +after the planting is finished, although the soil should always be +packed firmly about the stems of newly set trees, whether large or +small. The more frequent and thorough the cultivation during the +ensuing summer, the more rapid will be the growth of the trees. + +If the transplanted seedlings have produced any considerable number +of side branches,--and especially, low down,--these may be pruned +off at any time during the summer, for our object is usually to +secure straight, upright stems for grafting the following spring, if +they are large and tall enough; if not, we may delay this operation +for another year. Of course, small chestnut stocks may be grafted +close to the ground, but there is nothing really gained by this, for +a good strong stock will push a cion forward more in one season than +a weak stock in two or three seasons. But when the stocks have +reached a diameter of from three-eighths to one-half an inch three +or four feet from the ground, they may be grafted, but I would +prefer to have them a little over than under these sizes. + +=Stocks From the Forests.=--It is not necessary for a man who may +need a few chestnut stocks for experimental or other purposes, to +wait until they can be grown from the nut, because these can always +be purchased at the nurseries; but if one does not wish to incur +even this small outlay, it may be avoided by obtaining a supply from +the forests, provided there are any in the neighborhood where +chestnut seedlings are to be found, and the owner will permit their +removal. The best wild stocks are usually to be found in recent +clearings, or where the larger trees have been cut off for timber, +and the underbrush, composed of seedlings and sprouts, is left to +grow up again into a forest. There are many thousands of acres in +New Jersey, New York, and other Eastern States, from which the +timber is cut every twenty or thirty years, and no further attention +paid to the land or what it produces. Wherever such clearings are +found containing chestnut trees, good stocks can usually be procured +by selecting those varying from one to two inches in diameter at the +ground, and if the soil in which they are growing is rather poor and +stony they will usually have pretty good roots, if carefully taken +up. They should be pruned to a single stem, and this cut off at a +hight of from five to six feet or less, then planted where they are +to remain permanently. Such stocks, if carefully taken up and +planted, will throw out numerous sprouts from their stems during the +summer, but all should be rubbed off while small and tender, except +three or four at the top, and the following spring, if wanted for +this purpose, they may be grafted in the same way as the young +stocks growing in the nursery, thereby saving three or four years of +time in securing bearing trees. Having often employed such wildings +for stocks with just as good results as with those raised from the +nuts in nursery rows, I am inclined to recommend them, where +obtainable, knowing that there are thousands of farmers and owners +of small places in the country who can do likewise, but may have +never thought it practicable to transplant nut trees from the +forest, although well aware of the fact that elms, maples, and +similar kinds were obtained there, and in immense numbers, for +planting in the streets of villages and alongside country highways. + +=The Season for Grafting.=--The proper time for grafting the +chestnut is in early spring, just as the buds begin to swell, but +not until all danger of freezing weather is past, although light +frosts will not seriously injure newly set cions. The grafting may +be continued while the leaves are unfolding, provided the cions were +cut early and stored in a cool place, where they remain in a dormant +state until used. I usually cut the shoots wanted for this purpose +during the late fall or winter, and then pack them away in a cool +cellar between layers of damp moss (_sphagnum_) to be obtained in +almost any swamp. Cions may be taken from the tree on the same day +that they are used, but there is some risk in this, because we +cannot control the weather, and a week of warm rain in spring may +delay us in grafting, while it is pushing our stocks into leaf; and +then, our dormant cions are available, while those on the trees are +not, owing to their expanded and tender buds. + +The shoots used for cions are those of the previous season's growth, +or as usually termed, one-year-old wood; and in selecting these, +endeavor to get such as are plump, well ripened and firm. If taken +from young and very thrifty chestnut trees, there is likely to be a +considerable portion of the upper end of the shoot that is rather +soft, spongy and immature, and this should be discarded, as it would +be a waste of time to use it. Of course, I am supposing that the +grafter is so fortunate as to be able to make his own selection of +the wood desired; if not, then he may be compelled to do the best he +can with that obtained elsewhere. + +=Grafting Materials.=--The really essential materials and implements +required in grafting nut trees are few in number. Grafting wax must +be provided, and while there are many different compositions used +for this purpose, I much prefer, for ordinary work in the open air, +a wax made after the old formula, and as follows: Take one pound of +common rosin, one-half pound of beeswax, and one-quarter of a pound +of beef tallow; melt together and stir enough to insure the thorough +intermingling of the ingredients, and then set away to cool, or pour +into cold water and work up into cakes or rolls and wrap in paper +until wanted for use. Larger quantities may be made if required, +preserving the same proportions of the materials used. If to be used +immediately in grafting chestnuts and similar trees, then procure +some sheets of tough Manilla paper of only moderate thickness, and +cut this up into sheets about six inches wide and a foot long. While +the fresh-made wax is melted, take an old and rather stiff paint +brush, dip it into the hot wax and coat the papers thinly with it, +and then spread them out on shelves or elsewhere to cool, and let +them remain undisturbed until wanted for use. Any thin kind of cloth +may be used instead of paper, but I prefer the latter because it +will yield to the pressure of the enlarging stock and cion when +growth begins, and it will not be necessary to examine the grafted +stock so frequently during the summer to prevent girdling, as is +usually the case when a tougher material is employed for wrappers. +Before these waxed sheets are taken into the field for use, lay each +one separately on a piece of board with the waxed side up, and with +the point of a sharp knife cut them crossways into narrow strips of +from one-half to three-fourths of an inch wide. But for convenience +in handling, insert the point of the knife a half-inch from one +edge, but cut the other clean through, so that the whole sheet of +strips can be lifted together. + +In early spring there is usually more or less windy weather, and if +waxed sheets of paper are taken out into the field unprotected they +are very likely to become tangled up and useless. To prevent this, +procure a number of large but very shallow paper boxes, such as can +usually be had at the stores and groceries of almost any village, +and in these place a single layer of the cut waxed sheets, where +they will be protected from wind and dust until removed for +immediate use. + +Other kinds of grafting wax can, of course, be used, and are usually +procurable at the seed stores or made at home, and I have given +their composition and the formulas for their manufacture in my work, +"The Propagation of Plants;" but, as I have already said, this old +standard kind of wax is just as good as any other, although a little +more troublesome to use on account of its sticky consistency. Raffia +or bass may be employed as ligatures for holding the cions in place, +then covered with Leport's or other kinds of liquid grafting wax; +but when these are employed it will be necessary to examine the +grafted trees frequently, in order to cut the ligatures to prevent +girdling. + +The best implement for grafting is a common broad-blade pocket +knife. One with a blade three to three and a half inches long and +three-fourths of an inch wide, is a handy size. It should be of the +best material for grafting chestnuts, because the wood of this tree +is coarse-grained, and so filled with siliceous matter that it soon +dulls the keenest blade, and the grafter will, of necessity, have to +use his whetstone frequently. In grinding the knife-blade have the +sides a true level, from the back to the edge, especially the +underside when to be held in the right hand with the edge towards +the body. The importance of having a blade of this form will soon +become apparent when the grafter attempts to make a true sloping cut +on either stock or cion, and it would be well for the novice to +practice for an hour or two in splicing some worthless twigs before +commencing upon more valuable material, for even an expert workman +is very likely to make some awkward dissections and joints when out +of practice. The professional propagator of plants may think such +details are unimportant, but I wish to impress upon the amateur that +in grafting nut trees we are dealing with kinds that will not +respond satisfactorily to such free manipulations as the apple and +pear; consequently, better and more careful handling is required to +insure success. + +When ready to begin operations in the field, take out a quantity of +the shoots to be used for cions, and keep them wrapped in damp cloth +or packed in a box, basket or other receptacle with wet moss, to +prevent drying. If any considerable number of stocks are to be +grafted, then an assistant or two will be required, for the grafter +cannot be alternately handling the knife and cions and wax, and do +good work, but if he only inserts the cions and his assistant +applies the waxed ligatures, the operation will proceed more rapidly +and satisfactorily. + +[Illustration: FIG. 13. SPLICE GRAFT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 14. SPLICE GRAFT INSERTED.] + +=Modes of Grafting.=--The only two modes of grafting that I shall +recommend for the chestnut are the splice or whip graft, and the +cleft or wedge graft. In the splice graft, the cion and stock should +be of about the same diameter, but if there is any difference let it +be in favor of the stock, and this the largest. In this mode of +grafting, the stock is cut off with an upward slope, exposing two or +three inches of wood; and about midway on this slope a small cleft +or incision is made, forming what is called a "tongue." The cion is +then cut in the same way from the upper end downward, with a +corresponding incision, as seen in Fig. 13. Then the two are neatly +fitted together, the tongue on one entering the cleft on the other, +making a close joint, as shown in Fig. 14. The bark of the cion and +stock should be exactly even on one side at least; and if they are +of the same size, so much the better, for then they will be even on +both sides; but we cannot expect to secure such perfect joints on +every stock, or any considerable number, although we aim to do so as +frequently as possible. When the cion is fitted, the waxed paper is +applied by placing one end of the strip at or near the base of the +splice, then wind it spirally and firmly upward until the entire +wound is covered. If one of the waxed strips is not enough use +another, for it will do no harm if they are double on a part or all +over the joint. The cion should not be much over four inches long, +and a less length is preferable, but not so convenient for handling. +One good prominent bud on each cion is sufficient, and this left +near the upper end, but on short-jointed wood we may use cions with +two or more buds without greatly increasing their length. After the +cion is in place and every part of the splice is carefully sealed +with the waxed paper, place a small piece or a little wax on the +upper end of the cion, just enough to cover the exposed wound and +prevent evaporation of the natural moisture or sap in the wood. I +have found, in practice, that this sealing the end of the cion is +time well spent; in fact, to leave any of the wood cells exposed to +the air endangers the success of the operation. + +Young shoots from a quarter of an inch in diameter up to +five-eighths may be used for cions, in splice grafting; and with a +little care in the selection of stocks, or by cutting them off a few +inches higher or lower, we may readily manage to have them nearly of +the same diameter to match our cions, whether they are large or +small, and such unions will soon heal over, leaving no scar at the +point where the two have been joined. + +If the new growth or shoot to be employed as a cion is slender and +feeble, then the base of the cion may be of two-year-old wood, +leaving just a bud or two on the upper end of the one-year shoot. +But it will seldom be necessary to employ such cions in grafting the +chestnut, although it may occur when seeking to secure wood for +propagation, from very old trees which have made only a feeble +annual growth. + +[Illustration: FIG. 15. STOCK.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 16. CION.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.] + +=Cleft Grafting.=--This method is employed principally upon stocks +or branches of trees too large for splicing. The stock is first cut +off at the point where it is desirable to insert the cion; then +split with a knife, being careful to divide it, so that the edges +will be kept smooth, and not rough and ragged (Fig. 15). When the +knife blade is withdrawn, the cleft may be kept open with a hard +wood wedge, if the stock is too large to admit of opening it with +the point of the knife when ready to insert the cion. The cion may +be three or four inches long, containing two or more buds; the lower +end is cut wedge-shape, as shown in Fig. 16, and slightly the +thickest on the side to be set against the bark of the stock. In +stocks of an inch or more in diameter, two cions, one on each side, +may be inserted (Fig. 17), and if both grow one should be cut away, +else the tree, in later years, will be very likely to divide or +break apart at this point. In stocks of an inch or less in diameter, +one cion is sufficient, the top of the stock to be cut off with an +upward slope, as shown in Fig. 18. After the cions are inserted, the +entire exposed surface of the wood must be covered with grafting wax +or waxed paper, and usually both may be employed with benefit. All +the various forms of grafting in the open air, as described in my +work on the "Propagation of Plants," may be employed on the +chestnut, but the two here given will probably answer just as well +as others for those who may have occasion to propagate this tree. + +=Success in Grafting.=--The question has been asked many times, and +will, no doubt, be frequently repeated, "What percentage of cions +should one accustomed to grafting make grow?" As there are no +statistics upon which to base an answer to the question, I can only +give my own personal experience, and this leads me to say that +seventy-five per cent may be considered an excellent, if not a high +average. In some seasons this has been exceeded by at least ten per +cent, while in others it has fallen as much or more below, with no +apparent reason for the difference. Ninety-five per cent of the +cions may push their buds, or even make a growth of several inches, +then begin to die off; consequently, the time to count your +successfully grafted trees is in the autumn, and not in spring or +midsummer, as it is to be feared some are in the habit of doing when +making a report upon what they call success in grafting nut trees. + +=Growth of Cions.=--Cions set in strong stocks usually make a very +rapid and vigorous growth, and if left unchecked, there is danger of +loss by being broken or blown off by strong winds during the summer +and autumn. To prevent this as much as possible, it has been my +practice to pinch off the ends of the young shoots when they are +about two feet long. Lateral shoots will then push out freely, and +in some seasons it may be necessary to check their growth in the +same way later. On feeble stocks, or those quite small, and with the +less vigorous growing varieties, no summer pinching or pruning will +be required. My experimental grounds are well protected upon the +north and west, not only by rising ground, but by Norway spruce and +American arbor vitæ hedges twice as high as the grafted chestnut +trees in the nursery rows, and yet almost every season some of the +stronger-growing grafts are blown out or broken off by the wind. +After the first season there is little danger of injury, probably +because the union between cion and stock has become stronger. + +=Grafting Chestnut Sprouts.=--In grafting the vigorous sprouts that +always spring up from the stumps of old trees that have been +recently cut down, we may reasonably expect a prodigious growth of +the cion the first season, as well as in succeeding ones, and if all +goes well with them we will secure large bearing trees in a very few +years, but such stocks are only available where old trees are +sacrificed for their timber or other purposes. Having a few such +sprouts on my place, they have been utilized from time to time in +testing some of the newer varieties. In one instance I allowed the +cion, set on a sprout about one inch in diameter, six feet from the +base, to grow unchecked throughout the season, as it was in a +protected position, and in the fall the entire length of the main +stem and lateral branches was sixty-five feet, and all from one bud +on a cion set early in the spring. The third year this tree bore +about a peck of very large nuts, to which I shall have occasion to +refer again under "Injurious Insects." + +=Grafting Large Trees.=--Grafting large chestnut trees with stems of +six inches or more in diameter, and with large spreading heads, is +possible, but far from being economical or practicable, especially +if the trees stand out where they will get the full sweep of +prevailing winds. By cutting off and grafting a few of the branches +at a time for several seasons in succession, one may, in a few +years, succeed in getting the entire head grafted, but there is +constant danger of some of the cions being broken out if they make a +vigorous growth, leaving a distorted and ill-shapen tree. Having +experimented somewhat in this line with variable success, I am not +inclined to recommend it, because ten trees can be raised to a +bearing age on moderate-sized stocks with less labor, and the +results will be more satisfactory. + +=Budding Chestnuts.=--I have frequently tried budding chestnut +stocks as described for the almond, and extensively employed with +other kinds of fruit trees. But the results of my experiments have +been unsatisfactory, although buds were set from very early in +summer until late in the fall, also on young and old wood; but so +few have taken and remained alive over winter that my personal +experience in this mode of propagation will not justify its +recommendation to others. Perhaps there is some secret connected +with the operation that I have not yet discovered, but which is +known to other propagators. Of course, budding with semi-dormant +wood and buds in spring, as soon as the bark will peel from the +wood, is practicable, but there is really nothing to be gained by +this mode of propagation over that of grafting. + +=Transplanting and Pruning.=--There is no tree that will bear or +withstand more severe pruning than the chestnut. If trees of one or +five hundred years of age are cut down, the stumps are sure to throw +up an immense number of sprouts from adventitious buds, as these are +readily produced at almost any point on the sapwood or alburnum +under the bark; and yet, with this inherent vitality and faculty of +recuperation, the chestnut tree does not naturally, like many other +deciduous kinds, throw up suckers from the roots. Keeping this +peculiarity in mind, the cultivator has only to use his pruning +knife freely upon the trees to secure almost any form desired. But +after the trees have become well established, very little pruning +will be required, except to occasionally thin out or remove a +rambling branch, to secure a well-balanced and shapely head to the +tree. + +In transplanting from the nursery rows, after grafting, and +especially if the trees are of some considerable size and large +enough to set where they are to remain permanently, there is sure to +be a loss of roots, and those that are preserved are likely to +remain for a short time inactive and incapable of absorbing +nutrients from the soil to which they are transferred, or until new +rootlets are produced. Under these conditions we aim to favor the +roots by removing or cutting back the greater part of the branches. +No matter how carefully such trees are lifted and their roots +protected during the operation of transplanting, it will check the +growth, and the best and most practical restorative is severe +pruning of the top, and every young shoot of the previous season's +growth should be cut back to within three or four inches of its +base. I am presuming that the trees have been grafted only one year, +but if older, and the cions were set high enough to begin the +formation of the head of the tree, then the entire young growth may +be cut away and some of the older wood, but of course not below the +graft. All broken roots must be cut off; and the ends of the larger +ones, roughly severed with the spade or other implements employed in +digging, should have their wounds smoothed with a sharp knife. + +Frequent transplanting and root-pruning young nursery stock tends to +keep up a proper root system, and an abundance of small fibrous +roots near the main stem, and trees so treated are worth much more, +if to be transplanted later, than those left undisturbed; but while +the latter may be twice the size of the former when of the same age, +they are not worth half as much to the purchaser, or for +transplanting in our own grounds. + +=Staking Transplanted Trees.=--This is always necessary for recently +planted trees, if they are of any considerable size, or from six +feet high and upwards. If not supported by stakes they are sure to +be swayed about, if not thrown over, by strong winds in summer. A +strong stake, two or three inches in diameter, would better be set +at the time of planting the tree, thereby avoiding breaking off or +crushing the roots, as frequently happens when stakes are driven +down among them later in the season. Set the stakes or drive into +the subsoil six inches from the stem, then use strips of cloth, +sacks, carpet, or some similar material, for tying, because hard +cord or twine will be very likely to cut through the tender bark +from the constant swaying about of the stems. Wind the strips around +the stem, and then cross between it and the stake once or twice, to +prevent the tree from pressing against or coming in contact with the +stake. Renew the stakes and tying materials, if necessary, until the +trees become firmly established, and provided with lateral roots +large enough to keep them in an upright position. + +=Mulching.=--Placing a few forkfuls of coarse stable manure, +half-rotted straw, leaves, or any similar material, on the surface +about the stems of recently planted trees, will prove very +beneficial, in not only keeping down the weeds, but aiding greatly +in retaining moisture in the soil about the roots. The application +of some such material as a mulch is all the more important with the +chestnut, because these trees are always to be planted in a +naturally dry and well drained soil. + +=Distance Between Trees.=--How far apart chestnut trees should be +planted will depend very much upon the species and varieties, some +growing to immense trees, while others are only fair-sized shrubs at +maturity. But for the larger-growing varieties, forty to fifty feet +between the trees is none too much space, when planted for their +nuts and not for timber. If set in a single row along the public +highways, farm lanes or around the outbuildings, to serve as shade +or ornament, and for their nuts, then about forty feet will answer +very well for the larger-growing species; and I will add that, in my +opinion, all the larger kinds of nut trees will give better returns +if placed in such positions, than when set in orchards or in compact +masses. When set in single rows or widely scattered, they are less +liable to be attacked by insects and diseases, while they will still +serve the double purpose of being both ornamental and useful. I must +admit, however, that in my experimental grounds the trees are +planted only twenty feet apart, but with the expectation of soon +cutting out every alternate specimen. + +=Soil and Climate.=--The chestnut thrives best in light, +well-drained soils, and those containing a large proportion of sand +or decomposed quartz, slate, or volcanic scoria; but it is rarely +found, nor does it succeed, in heavy clays, limestone soils, or on +the rich western prairies, where we might think it would grow most +luxuriantly. That limestone soils are inimical to the chestnut has +often been disputed, but my own observations, which have been +somewhat extensive in years and range of country, rather confirm the +impression that this tree avoids land containing any considerable +percentage of lime. It is true that chestnut groves, and sometimes +extensive forests, are found on hills and ridges overlying +limestone, but a careful examination of the soil among the trees +will show that it is a drift deposit containing little or no lime. +Such groves can be found in all the southern tier of counties of New +York, also among the hills of northern and western parts of New +Jersey, and thence west and south along the Blue Ridge and Alleghany +mountains to the Carolinas, and westward in Tennessee and Kentucky. +The chestnut is sometimes found in New Jersey and other northern +Atlantic States growing in considerable abundance near streams only +a few feet above sea level, but when found in such situations the +subsoil is invariably sand, gravel or porous shale. + +The range of climate in which the native sweet chestnut thrives is +quite extensive, as it is found sparingly in Maine in latitude 44°, +extending westward,--but not very abundant on this line,--through +New England and New York, crossing the Niagara river, skirting the +north shore of Lake Erie in Canada, and thence into southern +Michigan, but does not reach Illinois. From this line southward it +increases in abundance in Virginia, western North Carolina and +eastern Tennessee and Kentucky. But in following this tree southward +we meet another indigenous species, widely known as the chinquapin +(_Castanea pumila_). This species is indigenous to southern New +Jersey, and sparingly in parts of Pennsylvania, becoming more +plentiful as we proceed southward, the two species named overlapping +and in part occupying the same region; but the chinquapin extends +further south, and also to the westward, near its northern limits +crossing the Mississippi into southern Missouri, then extends south +again, becoming quite abundant in Arkansas. + +The European chestnut, in its many varieties, extends over about the +same number of degrees of latitude in Europe as our species do here, +although reaching a higher latitude in countries bordering on the +Atlantic, as shown in the old chestnut trees of England. The +Oriental chestnut has also a very wide range, but the limits are not +so well known as those of the European and American species; but a +study of its geographical distribution is of considerable +importance, now that we are importing these nuts for cultivation. +The same is also true of the European varieties, and the cultivator +who neglects to take this matter into consideration will fail to +secure whatever advantages may have accrued from acclimation, an +agency which, undoubtedly, has been active and continuous in +modifying and changing the primary characteristics of these plants +during unknown ages. + +To more fully impress upon the reader the importance of care in the +selection of materials to be employed in any pursuit with which he +is not perfectly familiar, I am prompted to relate the story of my +first personal experience in chestnut culture, as it may serve as a +warning to others who may attempt to raise these nuts in a cold +climate. + +At the time of purchasing the farm which has been my home for the +past thirty years, nut trees of various kinds were on my list of +things wanted, and the chestnut occupied a leading position, +probably because there were already many old and large native trees +on the place. My first planting consisted of a number of imported +seedlings, obtained from a well-known French nursery. The trees were +three or four years old, very stocky and vigorous, and they made a +good growth the first season; but the following winter the young +shoots were all frozen down to old wood, with the exception of one +tree, and thinking that this might prove hardy, cions were taken +from it and set in thrifty sprouts growing in a grove near by. The +cions made rapid growth, and from one of these I soon had a large +tree, which remained in good health for twenty years, but during all +that time it produced but one bur, containing two half-developed +nuts. Why it was unfruitful I do not pretend to know, but it was +certainly not for want of company, for it had large native chestnut +trees all about it, and these bearing heavy crops. The seedling +trees planted in the orchard also failed to be fruitful, and were +finally dug up and burned. Thus ended my first experiment in the +cultivation of the European chestnut. Had my location been farther +south and in a milder climate, the experiment might have ended +differently, but I am relating experience, and not attempting to +guess what might have been the results under more favorable +conditions. In the meantime, however, I had seen a few trees of the +Japan chestnut bearing on Long Island, and had received specimens of +the Numbo and Paragon, two now well-known and superior varieties of +the European species, although raised in this country. These +varieties were secured, and succeeded so well that I have continued +to add others from time to time, or as soon as trees or cions were +obtainable. + +The success which appears to have attended the propagation and +dissemination of these two varieties of European parentage has +awakened considerable interest in chestnut culture, besides +attracting the attention of those interested in such matters to the +fact that there are many old trees of the same or similar origin +scattered about the country, awaiting the coming nut culturist to +propagate them and make known their merits. + +It may be well, before leaving this subject, to remind the novice in +chestnut culture that seedlings of these hardy and productive +descendants of the European species will not come true from the nut +or seed, and while it will be admitted that the chances are somewhat +better for procuring a hardy variety from such nuts than from those +imported, still, there is no certainty of any considerable number +being equal in hardiness or other respects to the parent tree. There +is an inherent tendency, in tree seedlings of all kinds, to revert +to the wild form or type, and the chestnut is no exception to this +rule. + +=Species of Chestnut.=--What is called a "species," among plants, is +a particular form or type supposed to have descended from one +original stock, whether this was composed of one or more +individuals. But variations doubtless occurred at the first +inception or multiplication of the original, but so long as the +offsprings do not differ so widely as to be untraceable to the +proemial types, they are held to be varieties of one species. + +Whether all the chestnuts found in the various countries of the +world are descendants of one original tree or group of trees is now +beyond our ability to determine; consequently, what are now termed +species rests very much upon the opinions of botanists, as may +readily be demonstrated by consulting the works of hundreds of +authors who have essayed to describe and classify the plants of any +locality or country, and this, too, without reaching an absolute +finality acceptable to their contemporaries, or at all likely to +share a better fate with posterity. + +For many years after botany began to be recognized as a science, the +common American sweet chestnut was considered a distinct species, +but in recent years it has been relegated to the position of a +widely distributed variety of the European chestnut, and it is so +described and classified in most of the botanical works of the +present time, and under such names as _Castanea vesca_, variety +_Americana_; _Castanea sativa_, variety _Americana_; _Castanea +vulgaris_, variety _Americana_, etc. + +The Asiatic species or varieties--under whichever cognomen we may +find them described in botanical works--have fared little better +than our American kinds, for some botanists have described the Japan +chestnut as a distinct species, while others only as a widely +divergent variety of the common European chestnut. + +I regret that there should be any need of giving so much space to +this matter of species and varieties, yet presuming that far the +larger number of my readers will not be professional botanists, nor +persons with a botanical library at hand to consult for unfamiliar +terms, I have thought this explanation in regard to classification +might assist them in making clear the apparent confusion of names +which, in the main, are only synonyms. Furthermore, I purpose +retaining some of the older specific names of the distinct groups of +varieties, whether it be strictly in accord with the ideas of +eminent authorities or otherwise, because it will be more convenient +to do so, and certain phases will thus be made clearer to the +practical cultivators of nut trees, for whom this work is written. +My wish is to assist those who do not know, but want to learn how to +obtain, plant and make nut trees grow and bear remunerative crops. + +CASTANEA AMERICANA (_American sweet chestnut_).--Leaves +oblong-lanceolate, serrate, with rather coarse teeth, each +terminated with a feeble prickle or spine; smooth on both sides +(Fig. 19). Burs thickly covered with sharp, branching spines a half +inch long or less, from a fleshy green envelope, becoming hard and +somewhat woody; opening by four valves or divisions when mature. +Usually three nuts in each bur, the center one flattened by +compression, the two outer ones plano-convex. Shell tough and +leathery, dark brown, smooth, or more or less inverted, with a +silvery pubescence from the point downward; variable in size from +five-eighths to an inch in diameter. Kernel sweet and fine-grained. +A very large and common tree in the Middle and Northern States, +living to a great age. + +[Illustration: FIG. 19. AMERICAN CHESTNUT LEAF.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 20. SPIKE OF BURS OF BUSH CHINQUAPIN. _C. +nana._] + +CASTANEA NANA (_bush chinquapin_).--Leaves oval-lanceolate, serrate, +with feeble prickles on teeth and often wanting; pale green above +and white tomentose underneath. Burs in racemes, small; husk thin, +opening by two divisions or lobes, instead of four, as in the last +species; spines short, somewhat scattering, sessile or very +short-stalked; nuts small, pointed, brown, smooth, thin-shelled, +solitary or only one in a bur. Kernel fine-grained, sweet and +delicious. Common from North Carolina southward to Florida, in dry +soils and barrens. A medium-sized shrub or low-spreading bush, +rarely reaching a hight of ten feet, the slender twigs usually +tomentose. A spike of burs and leaves of this species are seen in +Fig. 20. + +[Illustration: FIG. 21. SPIKE OF CHINQUAPIN CHESTNUT BUR. _C. +pumila._] + +[Illustration: FIG. 22. SINGLE BUR, NUT AND LEAF OF CHINQUAPIN +CHESTNUT. _C. pumila._] + +CASTANEA PUMILA (_chinquapin chestnut_).--Leaves oblong-lanceolate, +short or acutely pointed, coarsely serrate, with incurved pointed +teeth, green above, tomentose underneath. Burs in racemes (Fig. 21), +two-valved. Sometimes the burs are single, as shown in Fig. 22. +Spines branching from a short stalk; nuts solitary, ovoid, pointed, +with dark-brown polished shell. Kernel fine-grained, sweet and +excellent. A medium-sized tree twenty to forty feet high; in rich +soils from New Jersey, Southern Pennsylvania and southward, to +Georgia, and sparingly westward to Arkansas. + +[Illustration: FIG. 23. JAPAN CHESTNUT LEAF.] + +CASTANEA SATIVA OR VESCA (_European chestnut_).--Leaves +oblong-lanceolate, pointed, coarsely serrate, with rather long +incurved spines on the teeth; smooth on both sides, but glossy and +dark green above; thicker and of more substance than in any other +species. Burs very large, with thick husk, and long, stout, +branching spines, from a woody stem at the base; shell of nut thick, +tough and leathery, of a dark mahogany brown; kernel enclosed in a +rather tough but thin skin that is usually intensely bitter, a +characteristic that readily distinguishes this from any of our +species. Trees of large size, rather stocky; young shoots coarse, +with smooth bark; buds prominent, glossy, and of a light +yellowish-brown color. + +CASTANEA JAPONICA (_Japan chestnut_).--Leaves lanceolate-oblong +(Fig. 23), finely serrate, indentations shallow, and the teeth +slender pointed; pale green above and silvery or rusty white +underneath. Burs with a very thin husk; spines short, widely +branching from a short stem. Nuts large to very large, usually three +in a bur; shell thin, and of a light brown color; the inner skin +thin, fibrous, but not as bitter as in the European varieties, and +the kernel somewhat finer grained and sweeter. Trees of moderate +growth and are said to rarely exceed fifty feet high in Japan. The +growth is slender in comparison with the European or American +chestnut, and the habit is decidedly bushy, the new growth of the +season usually producing a number of lateral twigs late in summer. +The leaves here seem to be more persistent, probably because the +season is not long enough to insure thorough ripening. + +The reader will please bear in mind that this description of the +Japan chestnut is drawn from the introduced varieties or those +raised from the imported nuts, and not from the trees growing in +their native habitats. All the varieties that I have seen appear to +belong to one type or species, and they come from the warmer parts +of that country; but Prof. Sargent, in his "Forest Flora of Japan," +says that while the largest nuts appear in the markets of Kobe and +Osaka, from whence they come to this country, there are varieties +offered for sale in the markets of Aomori, which is much further +north, and these, he thinks, would produce a more hardy race of +varieties than those we have already received from that country. As +a race, all the Japan chestnuts are very precocious, the trees +coming into bearing early whether raised from the nut or propagated +by grafting. + +=Native Varieties.= (Group One).--While it is well known that our +American sweet chestnut varies widely in the size, flavor, form, +color and general appearance of the nuts, no special effort has been +made to select and perpetuate the most distinct and valuable +varieties. This is to be regretted, inasmuch as the opportunities +for making such selections, and preserving and propagating those +most worthy of it, are rapidly passing away with the destruction of +our chestnut forests; but there is still time to do something in +this direction, and perhaps save a few varieties as valuable as +those already destroyed. It is to be hoped that every man who knows +of a large variety, will either propagate it himself, or point it +out to some one who is sufficiently interested to do so. If proper +attention was given to the raising of seedlings, we might soon +secure many improved native varieties, and I would urge this mode of +propagation upon all whose circumstances and surroundings will admit +of it, and especially upon the young men who possess the talent and +inclination to make such experiments; for there is a wide and +fertile field open to them, and they can scarcely fail to reap a +rich reward for their labors, if applied with earnestness and a +moderate amount of intelligence. + +BURLESS CHESTNUT.--This is a peculiar variety or freak, in which the +burs are merely shallow cups upon which the nuts rest, and at no +stage of their growth are they enclosed in a husk or bur. The nuts +are small and usually perfect, but being unprotected they are preyed +upon by birds and squirrels as soon as the kernels are well formed, +few escaping to reach maturity. This chestnut is of no economic +value, but is worth preserving as an illustration of extremes in +variation. The original tree was found in the forest near Freehold, +Green Co., N. Y., by Mr. Harry Bagley, to whom I am indebted for +cions sent me in the spring of 1885. Another and very similar +variety was found about the same time on Staten Island, N. Y., and +this also has been propagated, to a limited extent, as a curiosity. + +HATHAWAY.--A very large and handsome native variety, and one of the +very best. A strong and vigorous grower, and productive. Raised by +Mr. B. Hathaway, the veteran and widely known pomologist of Little +Prairie Ronde, Mich. Some thirty years ago Mr. Hathaway purchased a +half bushel of native chestnuts of a dealer in Ohio, and from these +raised a large number of trees for sale; but a few were reserved for +planting out on his own grounds, and when these came into bearing +the one named here was selected for propagation, because of its +large size and productiveness. + +PHILLIPS.--A large and handsome variety of excellent flavor, with a +very smooth, dark-brown shell. Grafted trees exceedingly vigorous, +upright growth, as well as precocious and productive. The original +tree is growing in the grounds of the late Whitman Phillips, at +Ridgewood, N. J. Several years ago my attention was called to a +number of large varieties of the chestnut growing in and near the +village, and from these I obtained cions for propagation; but I name +only one at this time, reserving the others until more fully tested. + +This is rather an insignificant number of varieties to be named +among the many hundreds that are to be found in almost every town or +neighborhood where the chestnut is a native, and yet I have been +able to find only one named in nurserymen's catalogues as being +propagated by grafting. It is true that nearly all dealers in trees +offer seedling American chestnuts, which may mean good, bad or +indifferent varieties when the trees come into bearing. Among all of +the many thousands that have been raised and planted in the East and +West, beyond the natural range of the chestnut, as, for instance, in +Missouri, Kansas and Iowa, there must be some distinct and valuable +varieties worthy of names and propagation. There are not only +distinct varieties to be found in every forest, but in some +instances the entire product of an extended area of country are +distinct in their color, size, and general appearance of the nuts +produced; as, for instance, in the woolly chestnuts of the Piedmont +district of Virginia, these being so nearly covered with a white +down that they remind one of popcorn. Hundreds of bushels of these +woolly chestnuts come to our markets, and among them I have often +found very large specimens, but so far as known, no effort has been +made to perpetuate them. + +So far as can now be determined, the wild or original European +chestnut was much inferior in its flavor, and little, if any, larger +than our American sweet chestnut; but by continued selections of the +largest for planting, and propagation by grafting, it has attained +to its present size and excellence; but this system of improving our +native varieties has scarcely, as yet, been attempted, a fact which +does not, in the least, redound to our credit. + +BUSH CHINQUAPIN (_C. nana._ Muhlenberg).--Of this I do not know of +any named varieties in cultivation. Plants are occasionally seen in +cultivated grounds, and I have one in my garden growing in a +sheltered position, where it has fruited for several years. It is a +pretty, round-headed, silvery-leaved bush, about six feet high; +ornamental, if not specially valuable for other purposes, although +the little sweet nuts are always acceptable. As a rule, the +seedlings of this species are not hardy in the Northern States, but +an occasional one will survive if planted in a light, porous soil +and a protected situation. + +COMMON CHINQUAPIN (_C. pumila._ Miller).--This is a small tree, +sometimes thirty to forty feet high; found sparingly as far north as +central New Jersey, and on Long Island. It is more common in +cultivation than the bush chinquapin, probably because more hardy +and better known, but I do not know of any improved varieties that +have been disseminated under distinct names except the one +hereinafter described. + +Among many seedlings raised, of this species, I have selected one +which good judges of such things have thought worthy of propagation, +and as I do not raise plants for sale, no one will be likely to +accuse me of having any selfish motives, further than a pardonable +pride in producing something worthy of perpetuation. Furthermore, as +an earnest of my confidence in its merits, I have distributed it +under my own name. + +[Illustration: FIG. 24. BURS OF FULLER'S CHINQUAPIN. ONE-HALF +NATURAL SIZE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 25. FULLER'S CHINQUAPIN. FIVE YEARS OLD FROM +NUT.] + +FULLER'S CHINQUAPIN.--Leaves large, broadly oval, pointed, coarsely +serrate, pale green above, clear silvery white below. Bark on main +stem; branches and twigs smooth, light gray, with numerous white +dots. The young twigs thick and stocky, cylindrical, with moderately +prominent, grayish buds. Burs in long racemes (Fig. 24), very large +for this species; spines long, strong, branching and sharp. Nuts +only one in each bur, rather short, broad, top-shaped, with blunt +point; shell very smooth, glossy, almost black; kernel fine-grained +and sweet. Ripens early, or with the earliest of the native sweet +chestnuts. The original tree is only six years old, twice +transplanted, and is now ten feet high, with a head fully as broad, +and as shown in Fig. 25. Although growing in a rather exposed +position, it has never been injured by low temperature in winter or +a high one in summer. It has thus far been the most rapid-growing +chestnut tree in my grounds, although given no special care. Whether +it will eventually become a large tree, or soon cease to extend, is, +of course, a question to be answered at some future time, but from +present indications this tree will be well worthy of cultivation as +an ornamental shade tree, even if we leave out of the account its +rapid growth, productiveness, and delicious little nuts, which will +be very acceptable for home use, if not possessing any great +commercial value. + +=European Varieties.=--In the use of this term I wish it understood +that the varieties named and described in this group are all of +American origin; that is, raised in this country from seed. At the +same time they are descendants of the European species. They are, in +other words, "Survivals of the fittests," the few that have survived +the many being raised from imported nuts (perhaps one out of a +thousand) that tests and time have shown were adapted to our +climate. There may be many other varieties scattered about the +country which are worthy of a name and of propagation, but I can +speak only of those I have been able to procure, or that have been +brought to my notice. + +In describing the following varieties, and in seeking to get at the +facts relating to their origin, name and history, the reader will +please bear in mind that there has been no previous attempt to +arrange or classify these semi-American varieties. Furthermore, +there is much confusion in regard to the true names of a number of +them, and the most I can say is that I have endeavored, under the +circumstances, to get as near the truth as possible. Could I defer +writing this chapter ten years, some moot points might be cleared +up, but as this is out of the question I must follow the light +already in my possession. + +To Mr. John R. Parry, of Parry, N. J., I am greatly indebted, not +only for specimens of new and rare varieties, but also notes +relating to the history of several of the older ones. + +COMFORT.--Burs very large, broad, somewhat flattened; spines very +strong and long, branching; nuts very broad, with short point, and +shell covered from base to point with scattering silky hairs, +thicker at upper end. In quality, about the same as in the ordinary +varieties of the species, but to some persons' taste it is better, +having less astringency in the skin surrounding the kernel. Origin +uncertain, but said to have been grown for many years at Germantown, +a suburb of Philadelphia, Pa., where the Paragon chestnut was +discovered. The Comfort certainly closely resembles the Paragon, but +I have not had an opportunity of fruiting trees under the two names +side by side, as would be necessary to determine their identity or +difference, if they are really distinct. + +COOPER.--A very large variety; has been in cultivation for several +years in Camden Co., N. J., but up to the present time the trees +have not been propagated for sale, although I am informed by Mr. +John R. Parry that there are a large number under cultivation. The +tree is described as of a broad spreading habit, with enormously +large leaves, and immensely productive. Nuts very large, smooth and +glossy, with little fuzz near the top. In quality they may be +considered excellent for a variety of this class. The burs are very +large, and this is its greatest or only fault; for when nearly +mature they absorb and retain such a quantity of water during heavy +rains, in addition to the original weight and the enclosed nuts, +that the trees are liable to be broken down by strong winds. + +CORSON.--Burs of immense size; spines an inch or more in length, +from a stout, woody, irregularly branching stem, resting on the +moderately thin husk. Nuts extra large, usually three in a bur; +shell dark brown, somewhat ridged; the upper end or point of the +shell densely covered with a white, almost woolly, pubescence, or +fuzz as it is usually termed. This is a remarkably large and fine +variety and of good quality. Originated with Mr. Walter H. Corson, +Plymouth Meeting, Montgomery Co., Pa. + +DAGER.--A large variety originated near Wyoming, Delaware, from seed +of the Ridgely. My specimen trees are good vigorous growers, and +hardy, but have not, as yet, produced fruit. It is said that the +nuts are of fair quality, but not as good as the best of its class. + +MONCUR.--Another seedling of the Ridgely, raised on the farm of Mr. +Frank Moncur, near Dover, Del. The original tree is about thirty +years old. Described as smaller than its parent, but of better +quality. + +[Illustration: FIG. 26. BUR OF NUMBO CHESTNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 27. SPINES OF NUMBO CHESTNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 28. NUMBO CHESTNUT.] + +NUMBO.--Burs medium, and distinctly long pointed before opening, as +shown in Fig. 26, the four divisions of the burs extending an inch +or more beyond the nut as they open. This is an exceptional form of +the bur, and will enable almost any person to recognize the variety +with bearing trees. Spines only medium in length (Fig. 27), and not +as strong as in most other varieties of this species. Nuts very +large (Fig. 28), smooth, decidedly pointed, light brown when first +mature, and of good flavor. Tree hardy and a vigorous, free grower, +and is very productive even when young. The original tree is now +some forty years old, and is one of a large number raised from +imported nuts, by the late Mahlon Moon, of Morrisville, Pa. + +MILLER'S DUPONT.--Burs large, spines long and strong but not as +stout as in some of the closely related varieties. Nut medium, and +kernel of fair quality. A promising variety. Origin unknown. +Received from Jos. Evans, Delaware Co., Pa. + +[Illustration: FIG. 29. PARAGON CHESTNUT BUR. (_One-half natural +size._)] + +[Illustration: FIG. 30. SPINES OF PARAGON CHESTNUT BUR.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 31. PARAGON CHESTNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 32. FOUR YEAR OLD PARAGON CHESTNUT TREE.] + +PARAGON.--Burs of immense size, often five inches and more in +lateral diameter; distinctly flattened on the top, or cushion shape +(Fig. 29); spines an inch in length, widely and irregularly +branching from a stout stem springing from a thick, fleshy husk, as +shown in Fig. 30, the whole making an involucre or bur out of +proportion to the nuts within. Nuts of large size, slightly +depressed at the top (Fig. 31), and they are usually broader than +long; shell very dark brown, slightly ridged, and covered with a +fine but not very conspicuous pubescence. Kernel sweet, +fine-grained, and of superior flavor for one of this species. Tree +hardy, exceedingly precocious and productive when grafted on strong, +healthy stock. A four-year-old tree on my grounds is shown in Fig. +32. It was loaded with nuts in the fall of 1894. This is one of the +best of its class. Origin somewhat in doubt, but it is claimed that +the late W. L. Shaffer, of Philadelphia, raised it from a foreign +nut planted in his garden, and who, some eighteen years or more ago, +gave cions to W. H. Engle, of Marietta, Pa. Mr. Engle has since +propagated and disseminated this variety quite extensively under its +present name, but should further investigation prove it to be +distinct and that it was raised by Mr. Shaffer, then it should +certainly bear his name, and Paragon become a synonym. No more +appropriate monument could possibly be erected in honor of a +distinguished horticulturist like the late Mr. Shaffer, than a +chestnut tree, nor could his memory be perpetuated under more +pleasant and agreeable surroundings than to have his name linked +inseparably with such an excellent and valuable variety. + +[Illustration: FIG. 33. OPEN BUR OF THE RIDGELY CHESTNUT.] + +RIDGELY.--Burs large, with dense spines, but not as long as those of +the Paragon. Nuts large, pointed; shell dark brown, with very little +pubescence, and this mainly at the point (Fig. 33). In quality this +variety ranks very near, if not the equal of, the best of its class, +and it has been highly commended, by those who have been acquainted +with it, for many years. + +The origin of the Ridgely, as recorded, leaves the question of name +a debatable one. Some sixty years ago a Mr. Dupont, of Wilmington, +Del., gave or sent to Mr. D. M. Ridgely, of Dover, Del., a sprouted +chestnut, and this was planted and became the original tree of the +variety under consideration. It has been called Dupont, because he +raised the nut and kept it over winter and until it sprouted; then +it passed into the care of Mr. Ridgely, who thenceforward gave it +his attention. The tree is now of immense size, and some seasons has +produced more than five bushels of nuts, selling at eleven dollars +per bushel. It is quite probable that the Dupont family were the +first to raise European chestnut trees to a bearing size in this +country, for some of its members were settled in Delaware before the +war of the Revolution. Pierre Samuel Dupont de Nemours, during the +French ministry of Vergennes, was employed in forming the treaty of +1783, in which the independence of the United States was formally +recognized by England. In 1795 (Am. encyclopedia) he came to this +country and joined his sons, who had become successful manufacturers +of gunpowder at or near Wilmington, Del., where their descendants, +or at least some of them, are still engaged in the same business. If +any of the old and original chestnut trees have escaped the numerous +"powder mill explosions" which have frequently occurred in that +neighborhood, they are probably much older than the Ridgely. I am +also inclined to believe that a very large majority of all the hardy +chestnut trees of the European species scattered about the country +are the direct descendants of the old Dupont stock. + +SCOTT.--Burs large, with long branching spines. Nuts from the +original tree, as received the past season, are only of medium size, +but said to be much larger on younger trees. Shell dark brown, +smooth, with a little fuzz around the point. As my specimen tree has +not, as yet, fruited, I am unable to say anything of its +productiveness from personal experience, but in a note from Mr. +William Parry, under date of Oct. 15, 1894, he says: "I send +specimens of the Scott chestnuts, grown by Judge Scott, of +Burlington, N. J. The crop is about gone and it was with difficulty +I could get these, which are about the average size; earlier in the +season many are larger. Judge Scott has grown those nuts for market +several years. The original tree was bought by his father many years +ago from the nursery of Thomas Hancock. He bought three trees for +Spanish chestnuts, planted them in a row about thirty feet apart, +and the one from which these nuts were obtained happened to be in +the middle. It is now a large tree, the trunk about five feet in +diameter. It is a regular and heavy bearer. Judge Scott has +propagated and planted an orchard from this variety, and claims +among its important features, large size and early +bearing,--two-year grafts generally produce nuts; immense +productiveness and good quality; beautiful, glossy, mahogany color; +freedom from fuzz, and an almost entire exemption from the attacks +of the chestnut weevil. While the crop of two trees standing on +either side of the Scott is badly damaged by worms, it is the +exception to find a wormy nut among the Scott. + + "The crop sells readily at ten to twelve dollars per bushel. + This year (1894) some sold as low as eight dollars, the lowest + ever known for this variety." + +STYER.--Burs large, round; spines long, branching, but not as coarse +as those of Comfort. Nuts medium to large, decidedly pointed, and +the point fuzzy. Shell dark brown, with a few longitudinal stripes, +but not ridged. A handsome nut of good quality. This variety has +been distributed under the name of Hannum. The original tree, which +is a mammoth in size, is still standing on the farm of a Mr. Hannum, +near Concordville, Delaware Co., Penn. But Mr. T. Walter Styer, of +the same place, is propagating and introducing it as the Styer. + +Some of the varieties in this group may not prove to be distinct, +and later they will be relegated to their proper place as synonyms, +but I have thought it best to record them by the names under which +they have been received. In writing these descriptions I have had +the nuts and leaves before me, but there may be characters +overlooked which will become more conspicuous as the grafted trees +become older and more mature. The Dager chestnut, from Delaware, is +a promising variety, disseminated through the Department of +Agriculture, but as I have not seen the nuts at this writing, a +description is necessarily omitted. + +Among the French varieties of this species which are said to succeed +admirably in California, a large proportion would probably do +equally well in Delaware and further south. Among those worthy of +trial I may name the _Avant Chataigne_, _Comale_, _Exalade_, _Green +of Lemousin_, _Grosse Précoce_, _Jaune Rousse_, _Lyons_, _Merle_, +_Nouzillard_, _Quercy_, etc. I have tried some of these, but with +such indifferent results that they were abandoned. Cultivators of +nut trees located in a milder climate, should take advantage of +whatever improvements there have been made in Europe, by importing +grafted trees or cions. There are a few ornamental varieties of the +European chestnut, but none worthy of any special attention. + +[Illustration: FIG. 34. JAPAN GIANT CHESTNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 35. SPINES OF JAPAN CHESTNUT.] + +JAPAN CHESTNUTS.--The first authentic account I have been able to +find of the introduction of the Japan chestnut into this country, is +of a number of trees received by S. B. Parsons & Co., Flushing, N. +Y., 1876, from the late Thos. Hogg, who, as is well known to all +horticulturists, spent several years in Japan collecting many rare +kinds of trees and shrubs, which were shipped direct to Parsons & +Co. The chestnut trees received in 1876 fruited two years later, or +in 1878, and soon attracted attention, on account of the large size +and excellent quality of the nuts and the precocious habits of the +trees. + +The success of this typical variety of the Japanese species, as I +have assumed to designate it, proved that there were oriental +chestnuts--heretofore untested in this country--that were certainly +worthy of an attempt to obtain. This variety, introduced by the +Messrs. Parsons & Co., does not appear to have been disseminated +under any distinct varietal name, but merely bears the rather +meaningless one of Japan chestnut, and for the purpose of giving it +a position where it may be recognized--by name at least--from other +varieties more recently introduced, I shall take the liberty of +calling it "Parsons' Japan." + +Soon after it became known that the oriental chestnuts would succeed +in this country, the fruit growers and nurserymen of California +began to import and plant these nuts, shipping an occasional lot to +their customers in the Eastern States, and from these hundreds of +seedlings have been raised and distributed, under the general name +of Japan chestnut. Among the nuts imported there are some of +extraordinary size, even larger than anything of the kind obtained +from Europe, as shown in Fig. 34, natural size, and from a specimen +received direct from Japan. Some of the nurserymen who have secured +these very large nuts for planting, offer the seedlings raised +therefrom under such names as Mammoth and Giant Japan, but as there +is no certainty, and scarcely a probability, that such seedlings +will produce nuts as large as those planted, the names are rather +misleading, although proper enough if given to grafted varieties of +large size. When an extra-fine variety is produced from the nut, it +should, of course, be preserved and propagated in the usual way. + +The late Wm. Parry, of Parry, N. J., was one of the first nurserymen +to attempt to produce new varieties of the Japan chestnut in this +country, and his sons have continued his experiments in this +direction. Others may have been equally successful, but I have been +unable to obtain any satisfactory reports from those to whom I have +applied for information; consequently, I can only say that the +following, with few exceptions, originated at the Wm. Parry +nurseries. + +ADVANCE (Parry).--Burs medium, slightly flattened on top; spines +medium, short, almost sessile, as shown in Fig. 35, and this is a +characteristic of all the Japan chestnuts; branching and widely +separated on a very thin husk. Nuts very large; shell a light +yellowish brown, with a few slight darker streaks from base to apex. +Quality excellent for one of this species. Ripens early, and long +before touched by frost. + +ALPHA (Parry).--Very similar to the last, but ripens earlier, which +would be an advantage in some localities. Tree vigorous and +productive. + +BETA (Parry).--Bur medium; spines rather long and thin for one of +this group, set on a thin husk. Nut large; shell light brown, +smooth, with a slight trace of pubescence near the tip. The leaves +are shallow and coarsely serrate, and on some the teeth or +serratures are entirely wanting. Ripens a little later than the +Alpha, or about the first of October in northern New Jersey. + +EARLY RELIANCE (Parry).--Burs medium, with short, almost deflexed +spines, on an exceedingly thin husk. Nuts large, more pointed than +in the last, and of a lighter color the past season, but this may +not be constant, and may be due to the long and severe drouth of the +summer of 1894. Usually three nuts in a bur, and sometimes four or +five, but I do not consider this increase in number a merit in any +variety, for where there are more than three they are likely to be +of small size and very much deformed. The original tree of the +Reliance is enormously productive, and a regular bearer. + +FELTON.--A seedling of the common Japanese chestnut, raised by J. W. +Killen, of Felton, Delaware. + +GIANT JAPAN (Parry).--Burs large to extra large for a variety of +this species, with medium low branching spines on a very thin, +parchment-like husk. Nuts extra large, usually only two in a bur, +often only one, and about two inches broad, much depressed at the +top, with a short point set in an irregular depression or basin. +Shell dark mahogany color, more or less ribbed; kernel coarse +grained, as is usual in the extra large varieties of nearly all +species of the chestnut. This is probably the largest variety of the +Japanese chestnut raised in this country, of which grafted trees are +obtainable at this time. There may be others equally as large, but +if so they are unknown to the writer. + +KILLEN.--Of the Japan species, and described as very large, the nuts +over two inches in diameter and of fair quality. Raised by J. W. +Killen, of Felton, Del. + +PARSONS' JAPAN.--Burs medium, with rather thick-set and long spines. +Nuts large, one inch and a half broad, curving regularly to a point; +shell smooth, almost glossy, brown, with faint stripes of a darker +shade extending from base to apex. In quality the kernel is far +better than most of the European varieties, being finer grained and +sweeter. When grafted on strong stocks the trees come into bearing +early, or in two or three years. This is the best known, and +probably the most widely distributed variety, of the Japanese +species in this country, having been introduced, as I have stated +elsewhere, in 1876. + +PARRY'S SUPERB (Parry).--Burs broad, cushion-shaped, or much +flattened on top, with extra long, widely branching spines from +single or multiple stems, very much as in the European varieties. +But the thin husk, the nuts, and the growth of tree, wood and +leaves, stamp it as a pure Japanese variety. Nuts large, broader +than long, with a decided sharp woody point; almost entirely +destitute of even a sign of pubescence. A very promising and +distinct variety. + +SUCCESS (Parry).--Burs very large, broad, with only a few short, +scattering, branching spines on the top, thicker toward the base; on +a thin, parchment-like husk, and this is so thin that it sometimes +cracks open and exposes the nuts within before they are fully ripe. +Nuts extra large, nearly equal to the Giant, but of a more regular +and symmetrical form, being nearly as long as broad, tapering to a +point. Shell smooth, dark brown, with a slight pubescence about the +point. Usually three nuts in a bur; an ideal variety in every +respect. + +There is a variety of the Japan chestnut recently much lauded under +the name of Mammoth or Burbank, which is said to be of immense size, +and as sweet as the common American chestnut. + +=Injurious Insects.=--The chestnut tree is rarely attacked by +insects. It is true that grubs may occasionally be found boring into +the wood or cutting sinuous burrows under the bark, but this is +mainly in trees weakened by exposure, in removing protecting +companions, as when removing forests, or by plowing up and +destroying the roots, in cultivating the land about them; but the +attacks of insects upon such specimens is nature's way of getting +rid of the feeble and least valuable, making room for the healthy +and strong. But my thirty years' residence in a chestnut grove leads +me to think that this nut tree is exceedingly free from wood borers +of any kind. + +Entomologists, however, have noted several instances of insect +depredations upon individual trees, by a few species of the +long-horn beetles, three or four in all, but these occur so rarely +that they are scarcely worthy of notice as pests of the chestnut. +There are also several species of caterpillars occasionally found +feeding on the leaves of this tree, also some sucking bugs or tree +hoppers, and two or three kinds of plant lice, but none of these +have, as yet, become at all formidable enemies, or likely to become +so later. But the chestnut has one enemy which is so abundant and +destructive to the nuts as to call for an extended notice. I refer +to the common native chestnut weevil (_Balaninus carytripes_, +Boheman). The little fat, white, round, legless grubs, nearly or +quite a half-inch long, must be familiar to every person who has +handled or eaten chestnuts raised in this country, whether of the +exotic or native varieties. The parents of this grub are oval-shaped +beetles about one-half inch long or less; wing covers, body and legs +densely covered with a short yellow down, and from the front or +thorax there extends a long, slightly curved, slender snout (Fig. +36), sometimes nearly an inch in length in the females, but usually +less in the males. The mouth parts are at the extreme end of this +snout or proboscis, and the female, with her mandibles, it is +claimed, reaches down among the chestnut spines and gnaws a hole in +the husk, into which she drops an egg; and when this hatches, the +minute grub cuts its way through the green husk and into the nut, +the hole made in its progress closing up behind, leaving no mark or +scar. Although I have taken hundreds of these weevils on chestnut +trees, I never have been so fortunate as to take one in the act of +ovipositing, but have come so near it as to find the ovipositor +still extended as the insect crawled out from among the spines. + +[Illustration: FIG. 36. CHESTNUT WEEVIL.] + +The chestnut weevil usually appears in great numbers soon after the +trees bloom in spring, but they continue to come out all through the +summer; I have occasionally found them late in September, which +probably accounts for finding small and half-grown grubs in the nuts +as they ripen and fall from the trees. These late grubs often remain +in the nuts all winter, but the greater part escape earlier, or very +soon after the crop is ripe. The grubs crawl out of the nuts and +work their way into the ground to a depth of from a few inches to +two feet, much depending upon the nature of the soil. Having very +powerful jaws, they readily cut through a layer of leaves or soft +wood, and I have known them to cut holes in sheets of dry cork. +These grubs remain in the ground until the following season, then +come forth in their winged or weevil stage, except the belated, +broods, or those that have not reached full size in the autumn; +these remain in the ground the entire summer, coming out late in the +fall, or pass over until the second year, as I have proved by +burying the grubs in a barrel sunk in the ground, covering the top +with fine wire netting, to prevent the escape of the weevils as they +emerged from time to time during the season. + +As a rule, we find only one grub in a nut, of the American sweet +chestnut, but in the larger varieties of the European and Japanese, +two or more is not unusual, which rather favors the idea that the +female weevil does possess something akin to reason, which guides +her in locating stores of food available for her progeny. I have +never observed that the weevils had any choice among varieties, all +being subject to their attacks alike, provided all were growing in +equally favorable positions. But if the trees are of different +sizes, some tall and others short, some exposed to the winds and +others protected, then the ravages of this pest will, no doubt, be +as variable as the surrounding conditions. As the weevils emerge +from the ground in spring or early summer, they will naturally seek +the nuts most convenient and on the small trees, then those on the +lower branches of the larger ones, while those on the upper part of +the tree, where they are fully exposed to the winds, may wholly +escape the attacks of these pests. This leads me to think that +whoever attempts to cut off native chestnut forests, with the +expectation of renewal with the larger varieties, by grafting the +sprouts, will find the chestnut weevil a rather formidable enemy. I +have found it so on a limited number of trees in my own grounds, +that are grown from grafted sprouts near large native specimens, the +weevils destroying nearly every nut; but out in the field, away from +the woods, and where the young trees are scattered and exposed to +the full sweep of the winds, the nuts are sound and free from insect +enemies. The only remedy is to collect and destroy the weevils, +which is not a serious matter where only the larger varieties are +cultivated. + +=Diseases of the Chestnut.=--I have never noticed any special +disease among chestnuts, neither do I find any mentioned in European +works on forestry. The nearest approach to any such malady being +recorded as having appeared in this country, is found in a paragraph +in Hough's "Report on Forestry," 1877, p. 470, where the author +copies from Prof. W. C. Kerr, State Geologist, North Carolina, as +follows: "The chestnut was formerly abundant in the Piedmont region, +down to the country between the Catawba and Yadkin rivers, but +within the last thirty years they have mostly perished. They are now +found east of the Blue Ridge only, on higher ridges and spurs of the +mountains. They have suffered injury here, and are dying out both +here and beyond the Blue Ridge. They are much less fruitful than +they were a generation ago, and the crop is much more uncertain." + +While there is nothing said about any chestnut disease in the +paragraph quoted, we only infer that the author intended to convey +the idea that the trees were suffering from some endemic malady, +although it may have been due to long drouths, insect depredators, +or other causes. A few years later Mr. Hough, in his "Elements of +Forestry," refers to the subject again, and admits that "the cause +of the malady is unknown." But as chestnuts continue to come to our +markets in vast quantities from the Piedmont regions, there must be +a goodly number of healthy trees remaining. + +=Uses.=--The economic value of the chestnut, as food for mankind and +the lower animals, has been, and is still, so well known, that no +extended dissertation or compilation of historic instances of its +usefulness are required here. For almost two thousand years it has +been an important article of food throughout southern Europe, and in +some of the mountainous districts it is almost the "staff of life" +among the poorer people, who not only use these nuts in their raw +state, but roasted, boiled, stewed, and even dried and ground into +flour, from which a coarse but nutritious kind of cake or bread is +made. These nuts are also used in the same way by the poorer classes +of China and Japan, and probably in other oriental countries. In +France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, the chestnut crop is of immense +importance, not only for domestic use, but commercially, because all +surplus is wanted by other nations, who are ever ready to take a +share, and pay a good round price for the same. + +In this country chestnuts are mainly used as a luxury or a kind of +pocket lunch for the children, as they are rarely brought to the +table, and it is very doubtful if the American housewife, or our +cooks,--unless foreign born and bred,--know anything about preparing +these delicious nuts for comestible purposes. Cereals, meats, fruits +and vegetables have always been so abundant and cheap in this +country, that the poorest of the poor could indulge in them without +stint or limit; but all this will change sooner or later, and when +our population has doubled or trebled, the edible nuts must become +of much more importance than now, and a roast turkey stuffed with +chestnuts may figure as the ideal of gastronomic art. + +As our native chestnuts are now annually consumed by the thousands +of bushels, and the imported varieties by millions of pounds, and +all as a mere luxury,--not a necessity nor an article which we could +not dispense with without any serious inconvenience,--we may well +consider what the future demand must be, and make haste to meet it +with an abundant supply. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +FILBERT OR HAZELNUT. + + +Corylus, _Tournefort_. Name from _korys_, a hood, helmet or bonnet, +in reference to the form of the calyx or husk enclosing the nut. +Order, _Corylaceæ_. Deciduous trees or low shrubs. Male flowers +appearing in the autumn in pendulous cylindrical catkins two inches +or more in length, with a two-cleft calyx partly united with the +bracts or scales. These catkins remain on the plants all winter, +becoming fully developed, and shedding their pollen early the +following spring. Female flowers minute, entirely hidden within the +buds during the winter, but early in spring their bright red, +thread-like stigmas push out from the tips of the lateral or +terminal buds. Ovary two-celled, with one ovule in each. Nut +globular, ovoid or oblong, often in clusters, but each enclosed in a +leafy, two- or three-valved husk, fringed or deeply notched at the +upper end. Leaves broadly heart-shaped, serrate, with sturdy, short +leaf-stalks. The filbert and hazel always bloom before the leaves +appear in spring, and the male catkins usually open and begin to +scatter their pollen in this latitude during warm days in March, the +females soon following, their bright-red stigmas pushing out from +the ends of the buds, but as soon as fertilization has been +consummated they shrivel and disappear. The trees may then remain +leafless for weeks following, and yet produce a heavy crop of fruit. + +[Illustration: FIG. 37. LARGE FILBERT.] + +The common English name, filbert, is from "full-beard." All the +varieties with husks extending beyond the nut, and with fringed +edges, are filberts (Fig. 37); while those with husks shorter than +the nuts (Fig. 38) are hazels, from the old Anglo-Saxon word, +_hæsel_, a hood or bonnet. The parentage, size, form or quality of +the nut, is not to be considered in this classification, for when +the nuts are ripe and fallen from the husks, there is nothing left +to distinguish the hazelnuts from filberts, unless a person is +sufficiently familiar with a variety to know to which group it +belongs. In France these nuts are known under the general name of +_Noysette_; while in Germany it is _Haselnuss_; in Holland +_Hazelnoot_; and in Italy _Avellana_, from Avellana, a city of +Naples, near which there is a valley where these nuts have been +extensively cultivated for many centuries. + +[Illustration: FIG. 38. LARGE SEEDLING HAZELNUT.] + +=History of the Filbert.=--It is claimed that the filbert was first +known to the Romans as _Nux Pontica_, because introduced from +Pontus; but it must have become naturalized throughout southern +Europe in very early times. But the Italian name of _Avellana_ +appears to have been applied to the wild hazel of Britain, long +before Linnæus adopted it as the specific name of the indigenous +species. John Evelyn, one of the most careful and learned of English +arboriculturists of his time, in referring to these nuts, in his +"Sylva," 1664, says: "I do not confound the filbert Pontic, +distinguished by its beard, with our foresters or bald hazelnuts, +which, doubtless, we had from abroad, bearing the names of _Avelan_ +or _Avelin_, as I find in some ancient records and deeds in my +custody, where my ancestors' names were written Avelan, _alias_ +Evelin." + +The filbert has been celebrated in prose and poetry from ancient +times, as we may infer from a remark of Virgil, who says that it has +been more honored "than the vine, the myrtle, or even the bay +itself" (Eclogue vii). + +The supposed occult power of a forked twig of the hazel as a +divining-rod (_virgula divinatoria_) for finding hidden treasures, +veins of metals, subterranean streams of water, and even pointing +out criminals, is, of course, purely mythical, although so solemnly +attested by many learned men in the past; and I would not consider +this myth worthy of a notice here were it not for the fact that it +was early imported into this country, and is still firmly believed +by many persons among our rural population. It is true that the +supposed attributes of the European hazel have been transferred to +different plants in this country, mainly to the peach and our +indigenous witch-hazel (_Hamamelis Virginiana_), but the myth still +lives, a legitimate descendant of an Old World nut tree. + +There is little to be said in regard to the history of the filbert +and hazelnut in this country, but it is quite likely that both of +the European species, and many varieties, were brought here and +planted by the early settlers in the Eastern States, and bushes of +the same could have been seen in many gardens a hundred years ago; +but I have been unable to find any account of extensive plantings of +these nuts, although nurserymen, all along, have been offering +choice varieties to their customers. In the main, our pomologists +have either remained silent in regard to these nuts, or, at most, +referred to them very briefly in their published works. + +William Prince, of Flushing, N. Y., in a "Short Treatise on +Horticulture," published in 1828, refers to the filbert as follows: + + "This shrub or, in some cases, tree, accommodates itself to + every exposition, and to every variety of soil, but prefers a + moist loam on a sandy bottom, with a northern exposure. It is + easily multiplied by seeds, layers or inoculation. In fact, + these nuts, which are vended in large quantities in our markets, + grow as well in our climate as the common hazelnut, and produce + very abundantly. Such being the case, it is hoped, ere long, + sufficient will be produced from our soil to supersede the + necessity of importation, as plantations of this tree would + amply remunerate the possessor; or if planted as a hedge, would + be found to be very productive. A single bush of the Spanish + filbert in my garden has produced a half-bushel annually." + +Mr. Prince then names a few of the best varieties, which are about +the same as those recommended at the present time, and he was, no +doubt, honest in recommending filbert culture to his countrymen, for +his own limited experience proved that the trees would grow here and +fruit abundantly. + +A. J. Downing, in the first edition of his "Fruits and Fruit Trees +of America," 1845, says: "The Spanish filbert, common in many of our +gardens, is a worthless, nearly barren variety; but we have found +the better English sorts productive and excellent in this climate +(Newburg, N. Y.), and at least a few plants of these should have a +place in all our gardens." If a few plants will succeed in a garden, +then we might reasonably suppose that the number might be safely +increased, and this was the idea of Mr. Prince, and many other +writers on the subject since his time, but I fail to find any record +of extended experiments with these nuts in this country, and as +there must be some good reason for this neglect, perhaps my own +experience in the cultivation of the filbert and hazel, to be given +in succeeding pages, may throw some light on this question. + +=Propagation.=--Filberts are readily propagated by almost all the +modes employed in the multiplication of ordinary fruit trees and +shrubs. The nuts are not at all delicate, and may be planted in the +fall, or stored in a cool place, mixed with sand or sphagnum, and +then put out in spring, always selecting a rather light and rich +soil for a seed bed, and in such beds plants from one to three feet +high may be obtained the first season. The seedlings produce such a +mass of fine roots that they are readily transplanted without danger +of loss. Varieties are perpetuated and multiplied by budding, +grafting, suckers, layers, and some grow quite readily from cuttings +made of the young, vigorous shoots, cut up into proper lengths in +the fall, and then buried in the ground until the following spring, +then planted out in trenches, as usually practiced with currants, +grapes and similar plants. The method of propagation most generally +practiced in Europe and this country is by suckers, and as the +cultivated varieties of the filbert usually produce these from the +base of their stems in profusion, there is no lack of material; +besides, they make as strong, healthy and productive plants as can +be procured in any other way. To secure an extra number of roots on +these suckers, they should be banked up with a few inches in depth +of good rich soil, or old manure, about midsummer, and then late in +the autumn dig down to the base and remove with knife or chisel, +after which they may be headed down to about fifteen or eighteen +inches, and heeled-in for the winter, to be planted out in nursery +rows early in spring. If a greater number of sprouts are wanted than +the plants naturally produce, the main stem may be cut down; but +this will seldom be necessary, because the young transplanted +suckers will usually produce more or less new ones the first season, +all of which can be utilized for multiplying the stock if they are +wanted. + +=Soil, Location and Climate.=--European varieties of the filbert +thrive best in what may be termed a rich loam, with a dry subsoil. +If the soil is too moist, the trees are inclined to run too much to +wood, producing less fruit. In the famous nut orchards of Kent, +England, the soil is loam upon a dry, sandy rock. The trees in these +orchards are manured at least once in two years, especially after +they reach the full bearing age. Almost any good soil that is rich +enough to produce a good crop of corn, and is not submerged in +winter, will answer for the filbert in this country. + +In selecting a location for a filbert orchard, an open, airy one +would probably be preferable to a spot so sheltered as to cause the +flowers to appear so early as to be injured by frosts. Furthermore, +I would warn cultivators to keep as far away as possible from any +hedgerows or plantation of the wild native hazel bushes, for these +are always loaded with disease germs that are fatal to the foreign +species. We might reasonably suppose that filberts would succeed +better in the Southern than in the Northern States, but if the +experience of those who have tried them there count for anything, +then these nuts are not adapted to the South, owing to the fact that +the flowers almost invariably push out during warm days in winter, +and these are destroyed later by frosts. In the more elevated +regions of the northern border of the Southern, and in similar +locations in the Middle States, these nuts will doubtless thrive, or +at least the climate will prove congenial. The more equable the +climate and free from extremes in temperature, the better; but the +most important element in this country is moisture, especially in +summer, when the nuts are filling out; and the best way to supply +this, where irrigation cannot be practiced, is to keep the ground +around the trees continually covered with a mulch of leaves or other +coarse vegetable matter. + +=Planting and Pruning.=--The space to be allowed between the plants, +when set out for bearing, will, of course, depend very much upon the +size they are expected to attain. Those varieties which assume and +remain in the bush form may be planted very close together, or not +more than six to eight feet between the plants; but those which +become small trees must be given more room. The larger European +sorts, which are at present the only ones worth cultivating for +their nuts, should be set ten or twelve feet apart, and the rows +fifteen to sixteen feet, then if properly pruned they will shade the +ground and be in a convenient form for gathering the crop. The trees +may be planted in the orchard when quite small, and some kind of +vegetable crop grown among them for the first two or three years, +but I would prefer keeping the plants in nursery rows until they +were four or five feet high, and then transplant to the orchard, and +set a short, stout stake by the side of each, to keep the main stem +in an upright position until the tree is well established. + +The first pruning,--except removing suckers from those in the +nursery rows,--will be the heading back of the main or central stem +to a hight of two or three feet, for the purpose of laying the +foundation, as it were, of the head of the future tree. Three or +four of the larger branches, which will push out from near the top +of the severed main stem, are to be selected to form the top, and +all others removed. Small lateral branches or twigs will spring out +from the larger or main ones, and in this way the head of a bearing +tree is formed. But before attempting to prune a mature or fruitful +tree, we must consider the mode of fructification, for the filbert +does not bear nuts on the young growth of the season, as in the +chestnut, but on the small branchlets or spur-like twigs of the +preceding season, or, as we may say, on the one-year-old twigs. The +small fruiting twigs are seldom more than four to six inches long, +and sometimes almost every well-developed bud on these contain +pistillate flowers and embryo nuts, either singly or in clusters. In +pruning the bearing trees, the main point to be observed is to head +back the strong leading shoots, to prevent the trees growing too +tall, as well as to force out the side or lateral twigs as fruiting +wood for the ensuing year. If the heads of the trees become too much +crowded to admit light and air to the center, some of the larger +branches must be removed entire. The best time to prune is in early +spring, when the trees are in bloom, for at this season we can +readily determine the injured from the sound male catkins, and +preserve enough of these to insure perfect fertilization. It is not +necessary, however, that there should be healthy pollen-bearing +catkins on every tree in an orchard, for if one in a dozen is well +supplied, there will be sufficient to fertilize the flowers of all +growing near by. It often happens, in our rather severe climate, +that the catkins of some trees or varieties are winterkilled, while +the pistillate flowers enclosed in the buds escape injury, and when +this occurs it is well to have some hardy variety at hand, from +which pollen can be obtained when needed. The inferior varieties are +usually the most hardy, and the wild European hazel or our northern +beaked hazel, will usually escape injury where all the large +improved sorts fail, and it requires but a few minutes' labor to cut +branches bearing sound catkins, and scatter these about through the +heads of trees requiring such assistance to make them fruitful. + + +SPECIES OF AMERICAN HAZELS. + +CORYLUS AMERICANA (Walters). Common hazel bush.--Leaves roundish, +heart-shaped, pointed, coarsely serrate; husk somewhat downy, with a +wide, flattened, fringed border extending beyond the roundish nut. +Shell rather thick and brittle; kernel sweet and good, but the nut +is too small to be considered of much value. A low shrub, with many +stems springing from the roots. Young shoots and twigs downy and +glandular-hairy. Common in woods and old fields from Canada to +Florida. + +CORYLUS ROSTRATA (Aiton). Beaked hazel.--Leaves ovate or oblong, +somewhat heart-shaped, pointed, doubly serrate; husk extending an +inch or more beyond the round or ovoid nut, forming before it opens +a long tubular beak, hence the name. The husk is densely covered +with nettle-like bristles, which are quite irritating to tender +hands. The nuts are small, usually growing in clusters at the ends +of the twigs, only a few coming to maturity. A low shrub or small +tree, usually growing in a dense clump, not spreading from +subterranean stems, as in the last species. Common on rather firm +and rich soil along the borders of streams, in the northern border +States, and southward on the Alleghanies, but most abundant in the +north through Canada, and westward to the Pacific in Washington and +Oregon, where, in the mountains, it often assumes the tree form, +growing to a hight of twenty-five to thirty feet, with a stem from +four to six inches in diameter. The wood is light, soft, and very +white to the center. It also extends southward to central +California, but here it is only a small bush, this form having been +described under the name of _Corylus rostrata_, var. Californica, A. +de C. This species probably reaches its highest development in the +Cascade range, in northern Oregon. The same or a closely allied +species of the hazel extends far into northern Asia. There are no +improved varieties of either of our native species of the hazel in +cultivation. + + +EUROPEAN SPECIES OF CORYLUS. + +[Illustration: FIG. 39. CONSTANTINOPLE HAZEL.] + +CORYLUS AVELLANA (Linn.). Common hazelnut.--Leaves roundish, +heart-shaped, pointed, coarsely and unevenly serrate; husk +bell-shaped, spreading, with a fringed or deeply cut margin. The +original form of this nut is supposed to have been ovate or oval, +but with a plant indigenous to such a wide range of climate and +country, and one that has been so long under cultivation,--running +wild in many localities where it is not a native,--it would be very +difficult at this time to determine its primary botanical +characters. A common shrub or small tree throughout the greater part +of Europe and Asia. + +CORYLUS COLURNA (Linn.).--Constantinople hazel. Leaves roundish +ovate, heart-shaped; husk double, the inner one divided into three +deeply cleft divisions, the outer with many long, slender, curved +segments, giving to the calyx or husk a fringed appearance, but +leaving the end of the nut fully exposed (Fig. 39). Nuts small, and +for this reason rarely cultivated. Native of Asia Minor, where the +tree attains a hight of from fifty to sixty feet. It is, however, +hardy in France and England, and was introduced into the latter +country some three hundred years ago, probably by Clusius, who +received either nuts or plants from Constantinople, hence its +present name. + +There are several other hazels and filberts, so distinct from the +two common European types that botanists have, in a few instances, +been inclined to elevate them to the rank of species, and among +these I may name _Corylus heterophylla_, or various-leaved filbert, +from eastern Asia, also the _Corylus ferox_, or spiny filbert, which +has a long and deeply cut or fringed husk. It is a native of the +Sheopur mountain in Nepaul. But from the two common European +species, _C. Avellana_ and _C. Colurna_, and their hybrids, many +hundreds of varieties have been raised, and from among these we may +readily select a dozen possessing all the distinct and estimable +properties to be found in this genus of nut-bearing plants; to +multiply names without securing anything of intrinsic value, is but +a waste of time and labor on the part of the cultivator. + +As we have no popular varieties of American origin, I am compelled +to consult European catalogues in making a selection of those most +promising for cultivation here, and this is, perhaps, an advantage, +inasmuch as our transatlantic cousins have had a long experience and +abundant opportunities for determining the merits of the varieties +they recommend. If hardiness and adaptation to our soil and climate +are to be taken into account, in making a selection, then we may +fail for the want of experienced guides, as it is undeniable that +very few persons in this country have ever attempted to conduct +extended experiments in the cultivation of either the native or +European species and varieties of the hazel. + +Taking this view of the situation, I shall avail myself of the small +but select list of varieties given in that standard work, "The +Dictionary of Gardening," edited by Mr. George Nicholson, of the +Royal Gardens, Kew, England. + + +SELECT LIST OF VARIETIES. + +ALBA, OR WHITE FILBERT.--Considered in England one of the best +varieties in cultivation. From the peculiar structure of the husk, +which contracts rather than opens at the outer edge, this filbert +can be kept longer in its cover than most others. As fashion demands +that fresh filberts must be brought to the table in their husks, +this variety deserves special attention. It is also known as +Avelinier Blanche, Wrotham Park, etc. + +COSFORD, OR MISS YOUNG'S THIN-SHELLED.--Nut oblong, of excellent +quality; husk hairy, deeply cut, about as long as the nut. Highly +valued on account of the thinness of the shell. + +CRISPA, OR FRIZZLED FILBERT.--Shell thin, somewhat flattened; husk +richly and curiously frizzled throughout, open wide at the mouth, +and hanging about as long again as the nut. Ripens late, and one of +the most productive. + +DOWNTON LARGE SQUARE.--Nut very large; shell thick and well-filled; +husk smooth, shorter than the nut. A peculiarly formed semi-square +nut, of the best quality. + +LAMBERT'S FILBERT (_Corylus tubulosa_).--Nut large, oblong; shell +thick and strong, the kernel being covered with a red skin; husk +long, rather smooth, serrated at the edges, longer than the nut. A +fine, strong-growing, free-fruiting variety. It is quite popular in +California, where it has been in cultivation for twenty years or +more under the name of Red Aveline. Specimens I have received from +there were not as large as those raised in England, but this can be +accounted for by the difference in climate. This variety is +cultivated in Europe under various local names, as, for instance, +Great Cob, Kentish Cob, Filbert Cob, and Large Bond Cob. + +GRANDIS, OR ROUND COB-NUT.--Nut large, short, slightly compressed, +very thick and hard; husk shorter than the fruit, much frizzled and +hairy. This is supposed to be the true Barcelona nut of commerce, +and is one of the finest grown. This is the large round hazel or +filbert so largely imported for the trade in this country. It has +many synonyms, and among them we may record Downton, Dwarf Prolific, +Great Cob and Round Cob. + +PURPLE-LEAVED FILBERT.--Usually cultivated as an ornamental shrub in +this country, but under proper treatment it is one of the most +valuable for its fruit. Leaves very large, and of a deep purple +color. Nuts and husk of the same color, which they retain until cut +by frosts. Nuts large, an inch in length; husks much longer than the +nut, and slightly hairy. The catkins are tender and become +winterkilled in our Northern States, but if the pistillate flowers +are fertilized by pollen from some more hardy plant, this +purple-leaved filbert is exceedingly prolific. I have gathered +eighty nuts from a small bush in my garden, the flowers of which had +been fertilized from another variety in early spring. + +RED FILBERT. Red Hazel, Avelinier Rouge.--Nut medium ovate, not long +as in the _tubulosa_, or Lambert's filbert; shell thick; husk long +and hispid. A very productive variety of good quality. + +SPANISH FILBERT.--Nut very large, oblong; shell thick; husk smooth, +longer than the nut. A very large variety, sometimes confounded with +the Round cob-nut and its synonyms. + + +PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH FILBERTS. + +Believing that our failures are often of far more value, in the line +of education, than our successes, I shall not hesitate to place my +own on record as guideposts to those who may be seeking the most +direct road to success in nut culture. Having had a rather extended +and expensive experience in the cultivation of filberts, I propose +giving a brief account of it here, with the hope that it may save +some other enthusiast from losing time and money. + +My attention was first specially drawn to these nuts in 1858,--while +a resident of the city of Brooklyn, N. Y.,--by a neighbor who had a +moderately large garden, on three sides of which he had planted a +row of English filberts. These trees, at the time, had attained a +hight of about fifteen feet, with broad, open heads, and they rarely +failed to produce a heavy crop of nuts, which sold readily at very +remunerative prices, for as they were always gathered in the husks +and sold by the pound, the amount obtained from these few trees +seemed to be enormous, considering the small space they occupied in +this garden. The owner of these filbert trees, being an Englishman +by birth, never tired of showing his English filberts to visitors, +and of descanting upon their value, as well as upon the stupid +indifference of the Yankees in neglecting the cultivation of these +valuable nuts. I imbibed enough of my neighbor's enthusiasm to +secure a good stock of his plants, a few years later, for +cultivation in my grounds here. The third year after planting, quite +a number of the bushes produced a fair crop of nuts, but I noticed +that an occasional shoot was affected with blight, and these were +immediately cut out and burned. The next season more of the branches +were affected, and from these the blight extended downward on the +main stems, and when these were cut away the sprouts from below made +a very vigorous and apparently healthy growth, some reaching a hight +of six feet the first season, but a year or two later these were +also attacked and destroyed by blight. + +Finding that the filberts in my grounds were doomed, I visited my +old neighbor in Brooklyn, hoping to learn something of the origin or +cause of the disease; but the blight had invaded his garden, and not +a tree remained. On my return from this visit I had every filbert +and hazel plant on my place dug up and burned, thinking by such +means to stamp out the disease. After waiting ten years, I thought +it time to try filberts again, and to be certain of securing pure +and healthy plants, I concluded to raise them from the nuts, and +sent an order for a few pounds of the largest and best variety to be +found in the celebrated filbert orchards of Kent, Eng. In due time +the nuts arrived, and they were very large, and all of one variety, +as ordered. They were mixed with sand and buried in the garden until +the following spring, then sown thinly in shallow drills and covered +with about two inches of rich soil. + +[Illustration: FIG. 40. ENGLISH FILBERT ORCHARD, FIVE YEARS FROM +SEED.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 42. EXTRA LARGE HAZEL SEEDLING OR ROUND ENGLISH +FILBERT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 41. VARIETIES OF FILBERTS AND HAZEL SEEDLINGS.] + +At the close of the first season the plants were from one to two +feet high and quite stocky, with a mass of small fibrous roots. The +next spring they were transplanted into nursery rows, and set about +one foot apart. The third spring I laid out about one acre for a +specimen filbert orchard, and after the ground had been thoroughly +prepared, the plants were set ten feet apart in the row, and twelve +between the rows. No crop was planted among the trees, but the +ground was kept clean and free from weeds during the summer, with +cultivator and harrow. All suckers springing from the base of the +stems were removed as soon as they appeared, and under such +treatment the plants made a vigorous growth. Two years later quite a +number of the trees came into bearing, these showing that I was +likely to have nearly as many varieties in my orchard as there were +trees. Some of the varieties might be better than the parent, but +the greater part were certain to be inferior in size. The fourth +year after planting in the orchard the trees gave me a heavy crop of +nuts, and they made a fine appearance as one looked down between the +long rows, as shown in Fig. 40. But this season my old enemy, the +filbert blight, appeared again, and branches and main stems began to +blacken and the leaves to wither. But I had bushels of nuts and in +great variety, and by sending specimen baskets of the long-husk +varieties to dealers in New York, learned that there was an almost +unlimited demand for such nuts, at prices ranging from thirty to +seventy-five cents per pound, if sent to market in their fresh, +half-ripened husk; but later on, when the nuts have fallen out and +become thoroughly ripened, as when imported, ten cents a pound may +be considered an average price for the larger varieties. Several of +these are shown in Fig. 41, of natural size and form. Another +extra-large hazel is shown in Fig. 42. The fifth year after +planting, my specimen filbert orchard had suffered so much from +blight that it appeared as shown in Fig. 43; but a few dozen trees +have been reserved, the rest being removed and reduced to ashes. + +[Illustration: FIG. 43. FILBERT ORCHARD STRUCK WITH BLIGHT, FIFTH +YEAR FROM SEED.] + +=Name and Nature of the Filbert Blight.=--The reader must not +suppose that one who has spent as much time and money as the writer +in experimenting with these nuts, would make no effort to discover +the origin and name of such a virulent disease, and means of +destroying it if these were known. For many years I had been well +aware of its presence in nearly all of the nurseries of the older +States, as well as in the public parks and private gardens. In the +meantime I had diligently examined the reports of the Division of +Vegetable Pathology of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, as well +as the hundreds of bulletins of the various State experiment +stations, treating of the fungous diseases of plants, all without +finding a hint or reference to this widely distributed and +destructive blight of the filbert. I also sent many specimens of the +diseased twigs and branches to professional mycologists, with no +better results. With the nature of the disease, its mode of +multiplication and distribution, I had become somewhat familiar, but +the information sought was: Had it ever been described and given a +scientific name, and if so, where, and by whom? This much of its +history had somehow escaped me, and, as it would appear from the +following correspondence, the chances were none too good of finding +it. + +In reply to an inquiry directed to the U. S. Department of +Agriculture, Division of Vegetable Pathology, I received the +following: + + + WASHINGTON, D. C., Aug. 4, 1894. + + DEAR SIR: + + Your letter of Aug. 2, relating to the disease of the filbert, + is at hand. In reply I have to say that we have not investigated + this trouble, and are therefore unable to furnish you with any + definite information upon it. Specimens of the disease, as you + describe it, have never been, so far as I know, referred to the + Division, nor am I able to find any record of any such disease + in foreign or domestic literature. If you will send us specimens + we shall be pleased to examine them and furnish you a report. We + should also be pleased to have any information from you in + regard to the manner in which the disease works. Very truly, + + B. T. GALLOWAY, _Chief of Division_. + +The specimens requested were forwarded promptly by mail, and in the +absence of the Chief of Division, they fell into the hands of one of +his assistants, who reported as follows: + + + + DEAR SIR: + + Your letter of Aug. 7 is received, together with the specimens. + The stems of the _Corylus_ are affected with one of the + Pyrenomycetes. _Cryptospora anomala_, Pk. The fungus is + described in "North American Pyrenomycetes," by Ellis and + Everhart, p. 531. It attacks _Corylus Americana_, but appears to + be worst on the European varieties, as you say. The pustules + appear first on the young branches, and later on the older ones + and on the trunk. The roots are not killed. + + The only remedy known is to cut out and burn the diseased stems. + Whether Bordeaux mixture or any other copper solution will + protect the shrub from attack, is not known. So far as I know, + it has not been tried. It is probable, however, that if the + stems were thoroughly sprayed with the Bordeaux mixture they + would be protected from attack. The mycelium of the fungus grows + into the cambium and practically girdles the stems. The black + pustules contain the spores. + + Very truly yours, + + ALBERT F. WOODS, _Acting Chief_. + + +On the receipt of this note of Prof. Woods, I looked up Ellis and +Everhart's work, a voluminous one of over 800 octavo pages, +published by the authors at Newfield, N. J. This filbert blight is +briefly described under the scientific name of _Cryptospora +anomala_, Pk., but Prof. Peck writes me that "the description was +made from specimens discovered near Albany, N. Y., in May, 1874. In +1882 this description was republished by Saccardo, in his "Syllage +Fungorum," Vol. I, p. 470, under the name of _Cryptosporella +anomala_. The original name in Report 28, p. 72, was _Diatrype +anomala_. In 1892 Ellis and Everhart, in "Pyrenomycetes of North +America," p. 531, changed the name again, making it _Cryptospora +anomala_." So at present we have the names of this fungus in the +following order: + + _Diatrypes anomal_, Peck, 1876. + _Cryptosporella anomala_, Sacc., 1882. + _Cryptospora anomala_, E. and E., 1892. + +Ellis and Everhart, after giving scientific description, add, + + "On living stems of _Corylus Americana_, Albany, N. Y. (Peck), + Iowa (Holoway), on _Corylus Avellana_, Newfield, N. J. The + pustules appear first on the smaller branches, and are serrately + arranged along one side of the branch; afterwards they appear + also on the larger branches and on the trunk itself, and in the + course of two or three years the part of tree above ground is + entirely killed. The roots, however, still retain their + vitality, and continue to send up each year a luxuriant growth + of new shoots, destined to be destroyed the succeeding year by + the inexorable pest. The imported trees seem to be more + injuriously affected than the native species." + +The observations of Ellis and Everhart and Prof. Woods accord with +my own, but I may say that the infested branches often show the +presence of the mycelium in the bark and alburnum,--by a slight +shrinking,--weeks or months before the pustules appear, for these +are merely indications of the last stage in the life of the fungus, +and with the throwing off the spores from these pustules the old +parasite perishes. + +The pustules, when fully open, are from one-sixteenth to one-eighth +of an inch in diameter, usually round, but sometimes slightly oval +in form, and placed mainly in almost straight rows lengthways of the +branch, as shown in Fig. 44. These pustules appear on wood of all +ages, from two years upward, and in what may be termed patches, +ranging from a few inches to a foot or more in length, and more +frequently on the upper side than the underside of the branches. + +[Illustration: FIG. 44. HAZEL FUNGUS.] + +This fungus is undoubtedly indigenous, and its host plant is the +common American hazel (_C. Americana_). From a very careful search, +I have not been able to find any clump of these bushes of any +considerable size that was entirely free from pustulous stems. But +on these wild plants it seems to do but little harm, for if a stem +is killed, another soon springs up from the roots to take its place; +but when this fungus invades our orchards and gardens and attacks +filbert trees, we recognize it as an implacable enemy. How far the +spores of this fungus are likely to be carried by the wind, +transported on the clothes of a person, or the hair of domestic +animals, I do not know, but it certainly is not safe to plant the +susceptible species and varieties within a mile of the wild hazel +bushes, unless the planter is prepared to use fungicides freely on +his trees. There are certain phases of this filbert blight that are +rather obscure and scarcely explainable; as, for instance, its +virulence among some species and varieties, and almost if not total +absence among others. So far as my observation extends, I have never +found it attacking the native beaked hazel (_Corylus rostrata_), and +my correspondents in the Northwest and in the Pacific States assure +me that no blight on the hazel has, as yet, been found there, and +its absence is probably due to the fact that the common hazel (_C. +Americana_) is not an inhabitant of these regions. + +In a neighbor's garden just across the highway from my own, there +are, at this time, four old European hazelnut trees, fully twenty +feet high and as many years old. They are of two varieties: one a +small round nut, the other a long, slender nut, but neither of much +value, because of their small size. The trees, however, are +perfectly healthy, never having suffered from the blight, although +these four are all that remain of a long row of choice European +varieties all planted at the same time. Blight destroyed the better +varieties, while these inferior ones continue to thrive and are +exceedingly productive. + +This native fungus that causes blight in the hazels is but one of a +large number of similar maladies which have appeared and often +worsted the horticulturist, in his endeavor to introduce and +cultivate foreign species and varieties of plants, and like the +tropical fevers, they may pass unnoticed among the natives, but are +terribly fatal to immigrants from cooler climates. The disease so +well known as the black knot (_Otthia morbosa_, Schu.), and widely +destructive to the European varieties of the plum, and Morello +cherries, has existed for ages among our native plums and black +cherries, doing comparatively little harm; but it seems to protest, +by its virulence, against the introduction of some foreign species. +The same is true with various blights and rusts which attack the +exotic pear, apple, quince, peach, and other of the larger fruits, +and we have only to ascend the scale a few degrees from the +microscopic fungi to the microscopic insects, to meet on the very +threshold of this realm the minute but unconquerable grape louse +(_Phylloxera vastatrix_), which for more than two centuries has +prevented the successful cultivation of the European varieties of +the grape in the open air everywhere east of the Rocky mountains in +North America; although this minute insect has ever been present and +a constant parasite of the indigenous species of the grape, but +scarcely affecting the health of its host. The plum curculio, +chestnut and hickory weevils, bean weevil, and many other similar +species of insects appear to be ever protesting against the +introduction of exotic plants, as well as the improvement of our +indigenous kinds. + +It is this blight, and nothing else, that has prevented the +extensive cultivation of the improved varieties of the European +filbert and hazelnut in this country, and not the uncongenial soil +and climate, as has been so often "officially" proclaimed by men +whose theories are far greater than their practical knowledge of +such subjects. Men whose experience with these nuts has been limited +to a few isolated bushes or trees in gardens or nurseries, where +they were protected, or beyond the reach of the spores of the blight +fungus, as has already been noted in the experience of Prince, +Downing, Barry, and my neighbor Butler, of Brooklyn, could scarcely +understand why others should remain so indifferent to such a +promising industry, or why the demand for the trees remained so +limited, with scarcely an attempt to plant filbert orchards anywhere +in this country. Nurserymen have continued to offer the choice +varieties at low prices per plant, and to advise their customers to +cultivate filberts extensively, even to setting them in hedgerows; +and yet home-grown filberts remain as rare in our markets as they +were a hundred years ago, and all due to the simple reason that the +insidious filbert blight still scatters its spores unrestrained. + +With the present almost universal employment of various fungicides +for the destruction of blights, mildews and rusts on cultivated +fruits and vegetables, we may confidently assert that the diseases +of the filbert may be readily controlled by the same means. The +spraying of the trees with Bordeaux mixture and other copper +solutions will certainly destroy the fungus spores, and with these +out of the way filbert culture may become of as much importance and +as popular here as it is in certain countries of Europe. In my own +experience I have found no other nut tree (barring always the +blight) that has been more satisfactory. The plants come forward +rapidly, fruiting freely and abundantly when young, and if properly +trained, the crop can be gathered with little labor, and as it is +ready for use a month or more in advance of the arrival of fresh +nuts from abroad, the home market during the time is at our command. + +The number of applications of the fungicides that will be necessary +during the season to rid the trees of blight, or the strength of the +copper solution used, will depend somewhat upon circumstances and +the condition of the subjects operated upon. If the trees are +growing near hedges of wild hazels, where there is a constant or +annual influx of the fungus spores, then greater care will be +required to suppress them than if the trees are some distance from +such sources of contagion; and it may be well for those +contemplating planting filbert orchards, to examine their +surroundings carefully in advance, in order to avoid local +blight-breeding plants, and have these destroyed if any are found. I +would also warn the cultivator against collecting branches of the +wild hazel in the spring, carrying pollen-bearing catkins to be +employed in fertilizing the pistillate flowers of the cultivated +varieties, for by such means blight spores may be readily introduced +into orchard and garden. + +It will seldom be necessary to practice artificial fertilization, +where any considerable number of trees are grown near together, +because if ninety per cent. of the male catkins are winterkilled, +the few remaining will be sufficient to supply pollen for the +pistillate flowers. In my grounds filberts have never failed to +produce annual crops after reaching a bearing age, although they +have been subjected to great extremes of temperature in winter. One +year the trees were in full bloom the last week in February, and +although cold weather followed, the protected pistillate flowers +were not injured. The winters of 1894 and 1895 were among the +severest, in the way of continuous low temperature, I have ever +experienced here, and while the filberts did not bloom until the +first week in April, the crop proved to be abundant. + +=Insects Injurious to Filberts.=--My personal observations lead me +to believe that the filberts and hazels are, in this country, +remarkably free from the depredations of noxious insects. Two +species of nut weevils have been reported as breeding in the wild +hazelnuts, viz., _Balaninus obtusus_, and _B. nasicus_, but among +the many bushels of the European varieties of the filbert produced +in my grounds I have never found one infested by a weevil or other +insect. In Europe a nut weevil (_B. nucum_) is said to be very +destructive to the wild hazel, often invading the filbert orchards, +and this we can readily believe, because they are not at all +uncommon in the imported nuts, but fortunately have not, as yet, +become naturalized in this country. + +The great hazel-leaf beetle, or as more generally known, elm-leaf +beetle (_Monocesta coryli_), has been known in a few instances to +attack and defoliate large patches of the wild hazel bushes, but +this insect seems to prefer the elm, hence is rarely found on the +hazels. But should it ever invade our filbert orchards, it can be +readily destroyed by dusting or spraying the trees with Paris green, +London purple, or other well-known insecticides. There may be an +occasional invasion of caterpillars, like the tent worms, spanworms, +leaf rollers of various species, and what are called leaf miners, +but as these infest almost all kinds of deciduous trees and shrubs, +we cannot consider them specially injurious to the filberts and +hazels. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +HICKORY NUTS. + + +Hicoria, _Rafinesque_. Name probably derived from the aboriginal or +Indian word hickery, or hickory, the common name for these nuts +among the tribes formerly inhabiting the Middle and Southern +Atlantic States. + +=Order=, _Juglandaceæ_ (Walnut family).--Native deciduous trees of +large size, with compound serrate leaves with an odd number of +leaflets, varying from five to fifteen in the different species, the +three terminal ones usually much the largest, the lower ones on +opposite sides of the rather stout leafstalk. Male catkins slender, +cylindrical, pendulous, two to six inches long, three in a cluster, +on a naked peduncle or stalk (Fig. 46) springing from the base of +the terminal buds of the previous season's twigs, and just below the +first set of new leaves in spring; calyx unequally three-parted; +stamens three to eight. Female flowers two or more in a cluster, +from the end of the new growth of the season, which becomes the +common peduncle or fruit-stalk of a single nut or cluster of nuts. +The flowers are destitute of petals; stigma short, broad, and +four-lobed; husk fleshy or leathery, smooth, very thick in some +species and thin in others, partly or wholly four-lobed, opening in +some, allowing the nut to drop out at maturity, in others adhering, +falling off entire when ripe. Nuts with hard, bone-like shell, round +or oblong, smooth or deeply four to six angled, somewhat flattened +or compressed in most of the species; kernel two-lobed, oily, sweet +and delicious, as in the common shellbark hickory, or extremely +bitter, as in the bitter nut. + +=History.=--The early white settlers of the Atlantic States found +the hickory nut in common use among the Indians, who gathered and +stored them in large quantities in the fall, for food during the +winter months, and while our ancestors who sought to make homes in +the western wilderness may have appreciated these luxuries, they +needed land for cultivation, and to secure it the forests were +destroyed, with no thought of preserving trees that would yield food +for themselves or succeeding generations. Not only were the forests +cleared away, as things to be banished from sight and mind, but as +the hickories yielded superior timber for various agricultural and +other implements, as well as for fuel, they were often sought for +and utilized in advance of the general clearing of wood lands, and +the first to feel the woodman's axe. + +William Bartram, in the account of his travels through the Southern +Atlantic States, from 1773 to 1778, and published in Philadelphia in +1791, says, in referring to these nuts, that they are held "in great +estimation with the present generation of Indians, particularly +_Juglans exaltata_, commonly called shellbarked hickory; the Creeks +store up the latter in their towns. I have seen above an hundred +bushels of these nuts belonging to one family. They pound them to +pieces, and then cast them into boiling water, which, after passing +through fine strainers, preserves the most oily part of the liquid; +this they call by a name which signifies 'hickory milk;' it is as +sweet and rich as fresh cream, and is an ingredient in most of their +cookery, especially in hominy and corn cakes." + +We can readily imagine what a delicious liquid hickory milk must be +in which to cook hominy, rice, and similar kinds of grain; and there +would be no danger from tuberculosis in this natural product of the +vegetable kingdom. Perhaps at some future day, when milch cows are +as rare in this country as they have been for ages in China and +Japan, hickory milk will come into vogue again and be more highly +valued by our people than it ever was by the aborigines. + +While we have no romantic tales to repeat in which either hickory +trees or the nuts have played an important part, yet we can well +imagine that such delicious food must, in ages past, as well as in +our own times, have been a coveted luxury, enjoyed at many a social +gathering of friends and neighbors. Many a country boy and girl has +welcomed the early autumn frosts, because they announced the opening +of the nutting season, reminding them of the long winter evenings +near at hand, and that the industrious and nimble squirrel was a +sharp competitor in the nutting field; consequently, no time could +be wasted if a store of such luxuries was to be gathered for home +use, or to be sent to city or village market for the benefit of less +fortunate consumers. It is to be hoped that this source of pleasure +and profit may continue long after the original forests of our +country have disappeared, and through the preservation and planting +of the noble food-bearing hickories by the roadsides, in orchards, +also for shelter, shade and ornament. Valuable as hickory timber and +hickory nuts have always been to the inhabitants of this country, we +might reasonably suppose that there would be many thousands of these +trees planted every year, in order to keep up a supply and make good +the annual loss sustained in the destruction constantly going on in +our forests. But no such plantings appear to have been undertaken in +our Northern States, and only quite recently in the Southern, where +the pecan nut is attracting considerable attention, on account of +the increase in demand, and the advance in price obtained for them +in the markets. Furthermore, with the many millions of dollars +expended by the general government to encourage the planting, +preservation and cultivation of forest trees, no special +encouragement has been extended to the nut-bearing kinds, and the +man who plants a cottonwood or worthless willow is given as much +credit as though he planted and reared a tree a thousand times more +valuable to himself and the country at large. + +This may not be a very creditable phase of nut culture in the United +States, but it is history, nevertheless, and to attempt to suppress +it would merely be encouraging negligence, which has already become +so general that the inferior varieties of hickory nuts command a +much higher price in our markets than the very choicest did a few +years ago. + +The nomenclature of the walnut family has been subjected to various +revisions by botanists, during the present century, and there are +probably others yet to follow in the near or distant future. In all +other standard botanical works published prior to 1817-1818, the +hickories were classed with the butternut, black walnut and Persian +walnut, and under the generic name of _Juglans_. But in the year +1818 Mr. Thomas Nuttall, an eminent English botanist, who had given +years to wandering through our forests and studying American plants, +separated the hickories from the older genus of _Juglans_, placing +them in a new one, to which he gave the name of _Carya_, from an +ancient Greek name of the walnut tree. This classification of +Nuttall's was immediately adopted by the botanists of his time, and +has been observed, scarcely without question, by the authors of all +the numerous botanical works published in America and Europe during +the past seventy-five years. But now we are informed by some of our +noted botanists that, in deference to the law of priority dominant +in matters scientific, Nuttall's name for this genus must be +abandoned, inasmuch as Mr. C. S. Rafinesque, an erratic Frenchman +possessing considerable ability for botanical research, and who came +to this country several years before Nuttall,--as some recent +investigations appear to prove,--defined the distinct +characteristics of the hickories, and not only proposed, but +published the name _Hicoria_ for this genus in 1817, while Nuttall's +_Carya_ did not appear until one year later, viz.: 1818. For these +dates I am mainly indebted to Dr. N. L. Britton, who appears to have +been delving among "first editions" of the works of the authors +named (Bulletin, Torrey Botanical Club, 1888). + +It seems strange, however, at this late date, that such eminent +botanists as the late Dr. John Torrey and Dr. Asa Gray, who were +both intimately acquainted with, in fact associates of, Rafinesque, +should have ignored his rights in regard to the name of _Hicoria_, +if he was really entitled to the honor of founding this genus and +separating the hickories from the _Juglans_. But for some good +reason they left the matter in abeyance, for their successors to +settle. Dr. Torrey does, in a way, recognize Rafinesque, in his +"Catalogue of Plants Within Thirty Miles of the City of New York," +published in 1819, but in a manner which shows that he had no +confidence in Rafinesque's claim, but did approve of Nuttall's +classifications and name of _Carya_, for on page 74 he refers to the +hickories as follows: "_Carya_, Nuttall; _Hickoria_, Rafinesque." + +From this it appears that Dr. Torrey did not adopt _Hicoria_ as the +proper mode of spelling this word, but retained the letter k in +giving it a Latin form. This is not strange, inasmuch as Rafinesque +had no settled form of his own, and varied the spelling at different +times; as, for instance, _Scoria_, _Hicoria_, _Hickorius_ and +_Hicorius_. It is but reasonable to suppose that Dr. Torrey was +familiar with Rafinesque's earlier writings, and also whether his +proposed generic name of _Scoria_, in 1808, was legitimate, or a +misspelling of _Hicoria_, as suggested by Dr. Britton. But of one +thing we may rest assured, and that is, Dr. Torrey would not +knowingly detract from, nor fail to give every man full credit for +his labors in any branch of natural history or elsewhere, and he +certainly must have known Rafinesque in all his eccentricities and +moods, for when in New York city he was usually the guest of Dr. +Torrey, and these relations continued for many years. + +A few of our leading botanists, having recently decided that +Rafinesque's name of _Hicoria_ must be restored, in deference to the +laws of priority, and Nuttall's _Carya_ be relegated to the position +of a synonym, I have concluded to adopt it in this work, although I +am well aware that a large majority of our botanists have protested +against this change, probably because of the confusion it is likely +to cause in the botanical literature of our times. My own reason for +adopting _Hicoria_ is not so much from any special reverence to the +laws of priority, but because it is derived from an old American +Indian name, and for all such I have a profound regard, and would +retain and adopt them whenever and wherever they are at all +appropriate to products indigenous to this country. The hickories +being purely American, and unknown to Greece or Greeks, a +semi-native name is all the more acceptable. It is not to be +expected that botanical quibbles are of any special interest to the +practical nut culturist, for a pecan or a shellbark hickory will +taste just as sweet and command as high a price in market under one +scientific name as another; but the cultivator may have occasion to +look up the botanical name of his trees in some school botany, or +other botanical work, and fail to find it, in the absence of some +guide to the various changes that have been made in the name of the +genus, as well as in the name of the synonyms of the different +species. Then, again, propagators and dealers in trees are prone to +employ unfamiliar names, whether they are old or new, this adding to +the confusion, without benefit to either purchaser or cultivator. + +To assist those who may have occasion to consult these pages for +either the common or botanical names of the different species of the +hickory, I shall endeavor to give the greater part of those compiled +by Prof. C. S. Sargent (Tenth Census), Dr. Britton, and other +eminent authorities whose works I have had occasion to consult in +writing this treatise. It is not certain, however, that these +revisions and readjustments of the scientific names of this genus of +trees will remain undisturbed for any considerable number of years, +for we have "many men of many minds" at work in the line of +botanical research, and it can scarcely be expected that all will +reach the same conclusion, either in fact or fancy; besides, it is +often difficult, if not wholly impossible, to determine a species +from the description given by the earlier botanists, for they are +generally very brief and vague, and will often apply equally well to +two or more species of the same genus. In some instances not a word +is given in the way of description, merely a name, as in "Bartram's +Travels" (1791), where he speaks of _Juglans exaltata_, a +tall-growing hickory found in the region through which he was +traveling, and we now know that it may have been any one of two or +three species indigenous to the Southern States. + +Under such confusing circumstances I shall make no claim of +infallibility in applying names to species, but attempt no more than +my predecessors have in the same direction, and my contemporaries +are now attempting, i. e., make as close a guess as possible as to +the species or variety of hickory which the earlier authors intended +to name and briefly describe. The date of publication of some of the +earlier works consulted are given, as an earnest of my desire to +assent to the law of priority in such matters. + +[Illustration: FIG. 45. FOURTEEN YEARS OLD PECAN TREE IN +MISSISSIPPI.] + +PECAN NUT, ILLINOIS NUT (_Hicoria Pecan._ Marshall).--Leaves with +thirteen to fifteen leaflets, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, pointed; +nuts mostly oblong, smooth; husk thin, somewhat four-angled and +four-valved, these at maturity shrinking, and falling apart when +dropping to the ground. Shell of nut generally thin, smooth or +slightly corrugated, varying widely in both form and size from less +than one inch in length to nearly or quite two inches, abruptly +blunt, or long and sharp pointed; the two-lobed cotyledon or kernel +oily, sweet and delicious. A large, tall, but usually slender tree, +with smooth or slightly furrowed bark, as seen in Fig. 45. Mainly +indigenous to river bottoms in the Southern and Southwestern States, +extending northward to Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Southern +Iowa. + +Synonyms and their authors: + + _Juglans Pecan_, Marshall, Arboretum Americanum, 1785. + _Juglans Pecan_, Walter, 1787. + _Juglans olivæformis_, Willdenow, 1809. + _Carya olivæformis_, Nuttall, 1818. + _Juglans Illinoiensis_, Wangenheim, 1787. + _Juglans angustifolia_, Aiton, Hortus Kewensis. + _Juglans rubra_, Gærtner. + _Juglans cylindrica_, Lamarck. + +SHELLBARK OR SHAGBARK HICKORY (_Hicoria alba_. Clayton).--Leaflets +mostly five, occasionally seven, the three upper ones +obovate-lanceolate, the lower pair much smaller and +oblong-lanceolate, as shown in Fig. 46, all taper-pointed, finely +serrate, and slightly downy underneath. Terminal buds large and +scaly. Fruit globose, somewhat depressed; husk smooth, very thick, +firm, scarcely shrinking at maturity, but opening and falling with +the nuts when ripe. Nuts variable in size, mainly thin-shelled, +white, compressed or flattened, four-angled, with deep corrugations, +blunt, rarely sharp-pointed; kernel large, sweet and excellent. One +of the most common and popular of the indigenous edible nuts, +collected in large quantities as they ripen in autumn, for home use +and for sale, as the demand for this excellent nut is almost +unlimited. A large tree, fifty to eighty feet high, and stem one to +three feet in diameter, with a shaggy or scaly bark, which on old +trees may be readily pulled off in long, shell-like plates. Timber +well known as valuable for many purposes. This species has a very +wide range, of from Maine to Florida in the Eastern States, and +westward to Minnesota, thence southward through eastern Kansas, +Missouri, Indian Territory and eastern Texas. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans alba_, Clayton, Flora Virginica, 1739. + _Juglans alba ovata_, Miller, Gard. Dict., 1754. + _Juglans alba_, Linn., Spec. pl., 1754. + _Juglans alba ovata_, Marshall, 1785. + _Juglans compressa (?)_, Willdenow, 1809. + _Juglans exaltata (?)_, Bartram, 1791. + _Juglans alba_, Nuttall, 1818. + _Juglans_ var. _microcarpa_, Nuttall. + _Juglans squamosa (?)_, Lamarck. + _Juglans ovalis (?)_, Wangenheim. + +Although Clayton, as with most of the earlier botanists, fails to +give any description of the foliage of the hickories he mentions, +and all have the affix _alba_ (white), yet his reference to the form +of the nut and the scaly bark of the tree is sufficient to enable us +to identify the species as that of our common shellbark hickory of +the Atlantic States, which extends through the regions where he +gathered his botanical specimens. + +[Illustration: FIG. 46. LEAF AND STERILE CATKINS OF SHELLBARK +HICKORY.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 47. WESTERN SHELLBARK.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 48. SECTION WESTERN SHELLBARK.] + +BIG SHELLBARK, THICK OR WESTERN SHELLBARK, ETC. (_Hicoria +laciniosa._ Michaux).--Leaflets seven to nine, obovate-oblong, +finely serrate, roughish-downy or pubescent beneath. Buds large, +composed of rather loose grayish scales; the young twigs stout, with +a gray bark, most noticeable in winter. Fruit large, oval to oblong, +usually four-ribbed above the middle, with depressions between; husk +thick, somewhat spongy, shrinking at maturity, and splitting open +from top downward. Nut large, with prominent ridges, and strongly +pointed, but slightly compressed at the sides, as seen in Fig. 47; +shell thick and of a dull yellowish color; kernel moderately large, +as shown across section of nut in Fig. 48, but much smaller in +proportion to the size of the nut than in the two preceding species, +but it is sweet, well flavored, and easily removed from the shell +when cracked. The very large size of these nuts makes them a +favorite, especially where the pecan and the true shellbarks are not +plentiful. These nuts were formerly known as the Springfield or +Gloucester nut. A very large tree, sixty to eighty feet high, and +two to four feet in diameter, with thick, scaly bark, the scales +somewhat thicker than in the common shellbark hickory of the +Atlantic States. A rare tree, except in the valleys west of the +Alleghanies, although it is reported to have been found in Chester +county, Pennsylvania, and thence west to southern Indiana, Illinois, +Missouri, eastern Kansas, and the Indian Territory. Plentiful in the +bottom lands along the Ohio, Mississippi and lower Missouri. +Elliott, in "Botany of South Carolina and Georgia" (1824), says it +is rare in the low country of Carolina, but he does not say that it +is found plentiful anywhere in the South. That he was sometimes in +doubt in regard to the identification of this and other species may +be inferred from his remark, namely: "The greater part of our +hickories resemble each other so closely in their leaves and vary so +much in their fruit that it is very difficult to discriminate the +species." + +It is this difficulty of identification which has led to so much +confusion in the application of the specific names, for the earlier +botanists rarely had an opportunity of a close and careful +examination of the trees or other plants which they attempted to +describe. In relation to the species under consideration, we find +that the specific name of _sulcata_, so long in use, was adopted by +Nuttall, from some earlier or contemporaneous author,--a system he +followed with all the different species of the hickory, but without, +in some instances, any discrimination or regard to their adaptation +or validity. If there was anything to show that Willdenow (1796) had +this Western shellbark in mind, or that he or his correspondents in +this country had ever seen or collected it, then we might adopt the +name of _sulcata_ as the original and true one; but in the absence +of such information, with a full and accurate description of the +species and its habitats by Michaux, under the name of _laciniosa_, +I think, in common justice to one of the most eminent dendrologists +who ever visited this country, the name given should stand as the +true one for this species. See Michaux, "North American Sylva," Vol. +I, p. 128. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans sulcata (?)_, Willdenow, 1796. + _Juglans laciniosa_, Michaux, 1810. + _Carya sulcata_, Nuttall, 1818. + _Carya cordiformis_, Koch, Dendrologie. + +The three preceding species are probably the only ones worthy of +propagation for their fruit, or that have and are likely to yield +varieties of any considerable economic value; but as it is important +that the nut culturist should know the materials he is using, and +whether they be of the best or otherwise, I shall admit all the +species, without regard to their merits or value for cultivation. + +MOCKER NUT, BULL NUT, BIG-BUD HICKORY, KING NUT, WHITE-HEART +HICKORY, ETC. (_Hicoria tomentosa._ Michaux).--Leaflets mostly +seven, occasionally nine, large, oblong-obovate, rather long +pointed, slightly serrate, smooth on both sides while young, +becoming roughish downy underneath when fully developed in summer; +leaf-stalks and catkins also somewhat downy. Fruit medium to very +large, round or ovoid, with a very thick woody husk, which splits +nearly or quite down to the base, but usually falling with the +enclosed nut entire, or bursting open as they strike the ground. Nut +very thick shelled, smooth, or strongly four to six angled, white at +first, but becoming a dull brown when exposed to the light. The +kernel is sweet, but so small and firmly imbedded in the thick shell +that it is only to be removed in minute sections, but this is +successfully accomplished by the squirrels, who often throw down the +entire crop from large trees before the shells harden, and then pack +them away in the ground, in old logs, and under the leaves, where +they will not dry for some weeks or months later. An exceedingly +variable species, especially in the size and form of the nuts; on +some trees they are scarcely an inch in diameter, while on others +they are nearly or quite two inches, but always with such a thick, +hard shell as to be nearly worthless for their meats. The largest of +these nuts I have ever seen grow in central and western New York, +where they are called "King" or "Bull" nuts. + +[Illustration: FIG. 49. LEAF OF PIGNUT.] + +The trees grow to a very large size, or from sixty to eighty feet +high, and two to three feet in diameter, with a thick, deeply +furrowed bark, not scaly. The wood is white, heavy, tough, and +nearly as valuable as the common shellbark hickory. The terminal +buds, and especially those on the young seedlings and suckers +springing up in clearings, are very large, round, short, and covered +with brownish scales, hence one of the local names of big-bud +hickory. + +A widely distributed species, or from the valley of the St. Lawrence +to Florida, and along the great lakes to Nebraska, and thence +southward to Texas. Unlike most of the other hickories, this species +seems to prefer thin soils, rocky sandstone ridges, and here in New +Jersey almost disappearing in the rich bottom lands along our creeks +and rivers; at least, this is its habit here in the northern part of +the State. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans alba (?)_, Linn., 1754. + _Juglans tomentosa_, Michaux, 1810. + _Carya tomentosa_, Nuttall, 1818. + _Carya tomentosa_ var. _maxima_, Nuttall. + _Carya alba_, Koch, Dendrologie. + +PIGNUT, HOGNUT, BROWN HICKORY, BLACK HICKORY, SWITCH-BUD HICKORY +(_Hicoria glabra._ Miller).--Leaflets five to seven, mostly seven +(Fig. 49), ovate-lanceolate, serrate, smooth; fruit pear-shaped or +roundish-obovate; husk very thin, splitting about half way down into +four sections or valves, these usually remaining attached to the nut +for some time after falling, in fact, may often be found within the +husk all through the winter; shell of nut moderately thin but tough, +with a small, bitterish-sweet kernel. A large, rather slender tree +in similar and same localities as the last, with a close bark but +not so deeply furrowed as in the mocker nut (_H. tomentosa_). Of no +special value except as a timber tree, and its slow growth makes it +less deserving of attention than those species that bear large and +edible nuts. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans glabra_, Miller, 1768. + _Juglans alba acuminata_, Marshall, 1785. + _Juglans obcordata_, Lamarck. + _Juglans porcina_, Michaux. + _Juglans pyriformis_, Muhlenberg. + _Juglans porcina_, var. _obcordata_, Pursh. + _Juglans porcina_, var. _pyriformis_, Pursh. + _Carya porcina_, Nuttall. + _Carya glabra_, Torrey. + _Carya amara_, var. _porcina_, Darby. + +[Illustration: FIG. 50. BITTERNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 51. BITTERNUT.] + +BITTERNUT, SWAMP HICKORY, PIGNUT (_Hicoria minima._ +Marshall).--Leaflets seven to eleven, oblong-lanceolate, serrate, +smooth and thin; fruit globular, with distinct ridges at the seams +(Fig. 50); the husk very thin, and at maturity splitting about +halfway to the base, the four divisions becoming reflexed in +maturing, but not separating and falling apart as in the +thicker-husk species. Nut broadest at the top, sharp-pointed, +obcordata (Fig. 51), slightly depressed; shell very thin, smooth, +white; kernel intensely bitter when fully ripe, but greedily eaten +by squirrels when fresh or in a half milky state. Usually a +medium-sized, graceful tree, with smooth bark, slender twigs, and +small, oblong buds covered with a dense yellow pubescence in winter. +It grows in moist soils, along streams and borders of swamps, and +near springs on hill-sides, from Maine to Florida, and westward to +Minnesota, Nebraska and Kansas. Humphrey Marshall described this +species so accurately in his "American Grove," under the name of +_Juglans minima_, p. 68, that there is no good reason to doubt its +identity, nor question the validity of this name, which should +remain as the true and original one, and all others of later date be +placed among the synonyms. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans_ (_alba_) _minima_, Marshall, 1785. + _Juglans cordiformis_, Wangenheim, 1787. + _Juglans angustifolia_, Lamarck, 1791. + _Juglans amara_, Michaux, 1810. + _Hickorius amarus_, Rafinesque, 1817. + _Carya amara_, Nuttall, 1818. + +NUTMEG HICKORY (_Hicoria myristicæformis._ Michaux).--Leaflets five +to seven, ovate-lanceolate, pointed, quite smooth on both sides, the +terminal leaflet sessile, not stalked; fruit oval; husk wrinkled and +rough, thick; nut small, oval, short-pointed; the shell furrowed and +very hard, and of a brownish color marked with white lines. Michaux +says: "The shell is so thick that it constitutes two-thirds of the +volume of the nut, which, consequently, is extremely hard, and has a +minute kernel. It is inferior to the pignut." + +A medium-size tree with slender branches, found in a few localities +in South Carolina, near swamps and borders of streams, and westward +to Arkansas, where it reaches its greatest development. This hickory +has been so rarely seen by botanists that Michaux's specific name, +given it more than eighty years ago, has fared a better fate than +those of our more common and abundant species; consequently, I have +only one synonym to record, viz.: _Carya amara_, var. +_myristicæformis_, Cooper, in Smithsonian Report, 1858. + +WATER HICKORY, SWAMP HICKORY, BITTER PECAN (_Hicoria aquatica._ +Michaux).--Leaflets nine to thirteen, generally eleven, narrow and +obliquely lanceolate-pointed, slightly serrate, thin and smooth; +fruit globular or somewhat egg-shaped, four-ribbed; husk thin, +dividing at maturity down to the base; nut thin-shelled, +four-angled; kernel much wrinkled and very bitter. This is closely +allied to if not a more Southern form of our common bitternut. A +small tree in swamps and river bottoms from North Carolina south to +Florida, and west to Texas. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans aquatica_, Michaux. + _Hicorius integrifolia_, Rafinesque. + _Carya aquatica_, Nuttall. + _Carya integrifolia_, Sprengel. + +[Illustration: FIG. 52. LARGE, LONG PECAN NUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 53. OVAL PECAN NUT.] + +=Varieties of the Hickories.=--Every one who has ever had occasion +to gather or examine hickory nuts in the forest, or has seen them in +market, must be aware of the fact that there is an almost endless +variety of each and all the different species. But as it is only the +varieties of the pecan and thick- and thin-shelled shagbark +hickories that are likely to be of any economic value to the nut +culturist, all others will be omitted. Of the first or pecan nut the +natural varieties are not only exceedingly numerous, but vary widely +in size, form, thickness of shell, and productiveness of the +individual trees. In some the nuts are produced singly or in pairs, +and from this number up to clusters of seven or eight; these +large-clustered and extra-prolific varieties are most worthy of +special attention, especially when the nuts are of good size and +thin-shelled, as in the large, long pecan (Fig. 52). From this size +they vary, as shown in Figs. 53, 54, 55. Some of the wild varieties +have received local names, and a very few propagated by grafting, +which is probably the most practical means known of multiplying +them, and at the same time preserving their varietal +characteristics. Choice and extra fine ones are constantly being +discovered and brought to notice, and doubtless many more will +follow as the old fields and forests of the South and West are +explored; besides, there are many thousands of seedling trees now +under cultivation, and from these we may expect some marked +variations from the original or wild forms. In Bulletin 105, of the +North Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station for 1894, and in +Report of Assistant Pomologist of U. S. Department of Agriculture +for same year, we find the following-named varieties of pecans: + +[Illustration: FIG. 54. SMALL OVAL.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 55. LITTLE MOBILE.] + +ALBA.--Size below medium, cylindrical, with pointed apex; cracking +qualities good; shell of medium thickness; corky shell lining thick, +adhering to the kernel; kernel plump, light colored; quality good. + +BILOXI (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.).--Medium size, +cylindrical, pointed at each end; surface quite regular, light +brown; shell thin; cracking qualities medium; kernel plump, with +yellowish-brown surface; free from astringency, of good quality, and +keeps well without becoming rancid. Introduced several years ago by +W. R. Stuart as Mexican Paper Shell, but the name has since been +changed to Biloxi. + +COLUMBIAN (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.).--Large, cylindrical, +somewhat compressed at the middle, rounding at the base; pointed and +somewhat four-sided at the crown; shell rather heavy; cracking +qualities medium; quality good. In size and form this nut closely +resembles Mammoth, which was introduced in 1890 by Richard +Frotscher, of New Orleans, La. + +EARLY TEXAN (Louis Biediger, Idlewild, Tex.).--Size above medium, +short, cylindrical, with rounded base and blunt conical crown; shell +quite thick, shell lining thick, astringent; cracking qualities +medium; kernel not very plump, of mild, nutty flavor; quality good. + +GEORGIA MELON.--Size above medium, short, rather blunt at apex; +cracking quality medium; shell rather thick; kernel plump, brown; +meat yellow, moderately tender, pleasant, good. + +GONZALES (T. V. Munson, Denison, Tex.).--Above medium size, with +firm, clear shell; quality excellent. Originated in Gonzales county, +Tex. + +HARCOURT.--Size medium, short, slightly acorn-shaped; cracking +qualities medium; shell rather thick, but very smooth inside; kernel +short, very plump; meat yellow, very tender, rich, very good. + +LONGFELLOW.--Size medium, oblong, cylindrical, somewhat irregular, +enlarging from base to near crown, then sharply conical to the apex; +cracking qualities not first-class; shell of medium thickness; +kernel plump but rather thin, light-colored; meat white, sweetish, +rich, good. + +PRIMATE (W. R. Stuart, Ocean Springs, Miss.)--Of medium size, +slender, rather long; shell thin; quality good; ripens in September, +thirty days before other nuts. + +RIBERA.--Size above medium, oblong ovate; cracking qualities good; +shell thin; kernel plump, light brown, free from the bitter, red, +corky growth which adheres to the shell; meat yellow, tender, with +rich, delicate, pleasant flavor. + +FAUST.--A South Carolina variety of medium to large size, medium +shell and good quality. + +FROTSCHER.--A Louisiana variety of large size, very thin shell, and +plump kernel of good quality. + +JEWETT.--From Mississippi; a large, long nut, rather irregular; +shell medium; quality very good. + +[Illustration: FIG. 56. STUART.] + +STUART.--A large, roundish, oblong nut from Mississippi (Fig. 56). + +TURKEY EGG.--A variety from Florida; large and thin-shelled. + +[Illustration: FIG. 57. VAN DEMAN.] + +VAN DEMAN.--A large variety from Mississippi, of oblong form and +thin shell (Fig. 57). + +From other sources we collect other names, namely: + +IDLEWILD.--An oval shaped nut from Idlewild, Texas. Report of U. S. +Department of Agriculture, 1890. + +RISIEN.--A very broad, thick variety, about one inch in diameter, +very blunt at both ends. From San Saba, Texas (Fig. 58). + +[Illustration: FIG. 58. RISIEN.] + +A peculiar shaped pecan nut is shown in Fig. 59, from Louisiana, +sent under the name of Lady Finger. + +[Illustration: FIG. 59. LADY FINGER.] + +From the report of the Georgia State Horticultural Society, 1893, we +obtain certain local names without description, as, for instance, +Turkey Egg, Mexican, Colorado, Pride of the Coast, etc. Col. W. R. +Stuart, of Ocean Springs, Miss., who has been called the "father of +pecan culture" in that State, and is the author of "The Pecan and +How to Grow it," adds two more varieties to the above list, viz.: +Beauty and Columbia; the latter, as figured in the book named, is a +very large variety, tapering from a broad base to a sharp point. +Judge Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo., found some very large and +fine varieties of the pecan in his neighborhood several years ago, +on the farm of a man named Meyers, and he purchased the nuts from +the tree bearing the largest in the grove and planted them, and the +seedlings have since been distributed under the name of "Meyers' +Pecan." + +Judge Miller kindly sent me a quantity of these nuts, from which I +raised some fifty or more trees, and all have thus far been +uninjured by the cold of our severest winters. From my own +experience in raising pecan trees, and I may add, that of some of my +neighbors, those grown from nuts gathered in the more Southern +States are almost invariably tender here in the North; but those +raised from thoroughly acclimated trees, along the northern limits +of this species, will give us a hardy race, and probably allow of +extending their cultivation far north of their natural range. Those +who intend to try pecan culture in the Northern States should bear +this in mind, and secure nuts and cions from hardy acclimated trees. + +=Varieties of the Shellbark.=--Of this species (_H. alba_) there are +as many distinct natural varieties as of the pecan, and while local +or neighborhood names are plentiful enough, they have not, except in +a very few instances, been placed on record in agricultural reports +or other publications. Three small thin-shelled varieties are named +in the Report of the Pomologist of the U. S. Department of +Agriculture for 1891, viz.: Milford, Shimar and Leaming, but neither +has been propagated, and they are probably not worthy of it, because +there are plenty of larger ones with thin shells which would be far +more valuable for cultivation. + +[Illustration: FIG. 60. THE ORIGINAL HALES' PAPER-SHELL HICKORY +TREE.] + +A careful research extending over a period of a quarter of a century +yields only a solitary instance of the propagation and dissemination +of a variety of the shellbark hickory, and this one is Hales' +Paper-shell, which I named, described and figured in the _Rural +New-Yorker_, Nov. 19, 1870, p. 382, Vol. XXII. I am thus particular +in regard to time and place, because years hence these facts may be +of more importance than at the present day. + +[Illustration: FIG. 61. HALES' HICKORY.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 62. SECTION OF HALES' HICKORY.] + +The original tree of this remarkable variety is growing upon the +farm of Mr. Henry Hales, near Ridgewood, N. J., and on bottom land +within a few rods of the Saddle river. The tree is probably more +than a hundred years old, and is about seventy-five feet high, and +nearly two feet in diameter at the base, and of the shape shown in +Fig. 60, taken from a sketch made in the fall of 1894. There are a +large number of the shellbark hickories growing near by, and while +there are several excellent and very large varieties among them, the +one I have named is by far the largest and most distinct in form, +and with the thinnest shell; in fact, the shell is much thinner than +in many of the pecan nuts that reach our Northern markets from the +South. The size and form of these nuts is clearly shown in Fig. 61, +while the thin shell and thick, plump kernel is seen in the +cross-section, Fig. 62. It will be noticed that these nuts differ +from the ordinary varieties of this species in the absence of the +sharp ridges and depressions running from base to point, the surface +of the shell being broken up into irregular, wavy lines, somewhat +resembling the shell of the more common varieties of the Persian +walnuts. I have occasionally seen very similar varieties,--but of +smaller size,--among the mixed lots of hickory nuts on sale in our +city markets, also oblong nuts, as shown in Fig. 63, but of course +there is no way of tracing these to the trees producing them. + +[Illustration: FIG. 63. LONG SHELLBARK HICKORY.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 64. SHELLBARK MISSOURI.] + +Another merit, in addition to the large size and thin shell of the +Hales' Paper-shell, is its keeping qualities, the kernels rarely +becoming rancid, even when two or more years old, and from a long +acquaintance with this nut and hundreds of other varieties gathered +from all parts of the United States, I am inclined to place it at +the head of the list, and as the most valuable sort as yet +discovered. It is true, however, that I have found in the forests, +and also received, many very large and superior nuts of this +species, that are well worthy of propagation and cultivation, but +they have been, in the main, of the typical form, and not of so +distinct a type as this Paper-shell. Judge Miller sent me a few nuts +of a shellbark found in Missouri, that were even larger, and with +fully as thin shell as that of the Hales' (Fig. 64), but upon making +further inquiries in regard to the tree that produced them, I +learned that an incoming railroad line had destroyed it, and thus +one more tree of inestimable value had been sacrificed in the march +of this progressive age. + +=Varieties of the Western Shellbark.=--The typical form of the thick +or Western shellbark (_H. laciniosa_) has already been shown on a +preceding page, but some remarkable and valuable varieties have been +found in the Western States, and no doubt others will be, when more +attention is paid than at present to the natural food products of +our forests. The tendency of this species, in its variations, is +usually in the direction of an elongation of the nuts, even when +there is no decrease in the thickness of the shell, as shown in Fig. +65, taken from one of a number of long varieties collected in the +Western States; and while they do not possess any special merit, +they attract attention, owing to their unusual form. + +[Illustration: FIG. 65. LONG WESTERN SHELLBARK.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 66. FRESH NUSSBAUMER HYBRID.] + +NUSSBAUMER'S HYBRID.--Several years ago I received a specimen of a +very remarkable nut from Judge Samuel Miller, of Bluffton, Mo., +under the name of "Nussbaumer's Hybrid Pecan." Judge Miller informed +me that he had received it from Mr. J. J. Nussbaumer, Mascoutah, St. +Clair Co., Ill., who claimed that it was a hybrid between the pecan +and the large western shellbark hickory (_H. laciniosa_). I had an +illustration made of this specimen, and it appeared, with a brief +description, in the _American Agriculturist_ for Dec., 1884, p. 546. +Soon after receiving the specimen nut from Judge Miller I opened +correspondence with Mr. Nussbaumer, and learned from him that only +one tree bearing such nuts had ever been found, and this was of +large size, six and a half feet in circumference, and about fifty +feet high, the bark somewhat like that of the hickory but nearer the +pecan. Mr. Nussbaumer sent me specimens of the green nuts with +leaves and twigs, from the original tree. The nuts, however, of that +season (1884), were badly infested with the "hickory-shuck worm" +(_Grapholitha caryana_, Fitch), and these had so ruined the shucks, +and even eaten into the shells of the nuts, that few of the +specimens received were fully developed. But from two nuts I had a +sketch made while they were fresh and of natural size, as shown in +Fig. 66, the dark, irregular marks on the husks showing where the +shuck worm had attacked them. One of these nuts is shown in Fig. 67, +also natural size. I planted one of the nuts, from which I now have +a tree about ten feet high, but although ten years old it has not +fruited, and, so far as I can judge from its appearance, is a pure +Western shellbark, with no indication of hybridity; but of course +this does not prove that the original or parent tree is not a +hybrid, as claimed by Mr. Nussbaumer, Judge Miller, and, if I am +rightly informed, Prof. T. J. Burrill, of the University of +Illinois. + +[Illustration: FIG. 67. NUSSBAUMER'S HYBRID.] + +However widely opinions may differ in regard to the origin of this +variety, it is certainly a most remarkable nut, and I regret that +the exact location of the original tree has entirely escaped my most +careful seeking; and of late years I have been unable to learn +anything of Mr. Nussbaumer, further than that he had moved from +Mascoutah to Okawville, Ill., the last letter received from him +being dated Dec. 13, 1887. In one of his letters he said that he had +raised a large number of seedlings from this supposed hybrid, and if +these are still alive they would be of much scientific interest, +especially if any of them showed the distinct characteristics of +either of the supposed parents. + +It would certainly be a pity to have such a remarkable nut lost to +the world, because if propagated by grafting or by any other mode to +insure perpetuating its varietal characteristics, its value could +scarcely be estimated. The nuts are as thin-shelled as the common +pecan, the kernel sweet and good, and in addition, the tree is a +native of a northern State, and would, no doubt, prove as hardy as +our common shellbark hickories. + +THE FLOYD PECAN.--This is another supposed-to-be hybrid, and of the +same species of hickory as the last; but the one nut which I +received differed from the Nussbaumer by being somewhat larger, and +the shell with more prominent ridges and a little thicker. It was +said to have been found somewhere in southern Indiana by a Mr. +Floyd, who, believing it to be of great value, refused to give any +information likely to aid any one else to locate the original tree, +neither would he part with any of the nuts except the one specimen +which eventually came into my hands. Of course all horticulturists +know that seedlings raised from such freaks among nut trees are far +too uncertain to be of much value, but ignorance in such matters +often leads the possessor of an article slightly differing from the +ordinary to permit his imagination to warp his good sense. + +=Cultivation of the Hickories.=--The hickories have been so seldom +planted in our Northern States for any purpose, that anything like a +systematic cultivation of these trees is a thing almost unknown. Of +course there is no good reason why the hickories should not be +multiplied and cultivated as well as other kinds of trees, but in +some unknown way the idea became prevalent that these trees could +not be transplanted with any assurance of success, and this has been +kept alive, either through ignorance or by those whose interest led +them to encourage the planting of the rapid-growing and easily +propagated kinds, instead of those which, though less profitable to +the producer, would be of far greater value to the purchaser. It +must be admitted, however, that the hickories are not so tenacious +of life as the willows, poplars, elms and similar kinds of trees, +requiring more care in their cultivation if they are to be +transplanted when of a proper size for setting along roadsides or +elsewhere, for shade and ornament, but they are certainly no more +difficult to make live than the beech, oak, tulip and various +species of the magnolia. + +The slow growth of the hickories while young is another objection +often urged as a fault of these trees, but there is nothing lost but +time in waiting, and this passes just as swiftly whether we plant +trees that may in ten years yield a golden harvest, or nothing but +leaves; besides, the hickories respond as readily to stimulants and +good care generally as the common fruit trees of our orchards. While +the farmers of our Northern States are generally quite indifferent +as to what becomes of their old hickory trees, and seldom attempt to +preserve the wild seedlings that spring up in the fields and on the +borders of forests, their fellow countrymen of the Southern States +have, within the past two or three decades, discovered that they +possess an inexhaustible source of wealth in their common pecan nut. +Formerly these trees were sacrificed whenever a choice piece of +tough timber was wanted, and often merely to secure the entire crop +of nuts without waiting for nature to drop them within reach; but +the advent of many lines of railroads, steamboats, and other means +of communication with the great cities and their markets, has +changed this inclination to destroy into one of preservation. The +old pecan trees are not only appreciated as a source of income, but +thousands and tens of thousands of seedlings are now annually raised +and planted, to insure larger returns in the near or distant future. +In fact, pecan culture has already become an important industry in +several of the Southern States, although in point of age it is +little more than a fledgling. We have no statistics to show what the +annual crop averages in pounds or bushels, but it must be something +enormous if we make our estimate from the quantities received and +distributed in the Northern States. But with all the efforts put +forth to secure a supply of these nuts, and the high prices they +command at both wholesale and retail, the demand seems to keep well +in advance of the supply, and this will, in all probability, +continue as our population increases. In the way of demand, the same +is true with our northern species of the shellbark hickories, which +were formerly very abundant, but of late years have become rather +scarce, for reasons too obvious to call for any explanation at this +time. + +In selecting a location for planting and cultivating the hickories, +including the pecan, a moist, deep soil is certainly preferable to +any other, especially for the three species and their varieties most +promising for this purpose, because we find them growing wild in +such situations and soils. But while these naturally deep, rich and +moist soils are to be preferred, no one need hesitate to plant +hickories on light, dry, and even poor soils, if they are properly +enriched, or a few shovelfuls of fine old stable manure is +thoroughly mixed with the earth in which the roots are set, and then +a mulch applied to the surface to keep the soil moist. Almost any +old waste fibrous material, such as leaves, straw, hay, weeds or +coarse manure, will answer for mulching newly planted trees, and it +should be applied to a depth of three or four inches, and renewed +annually, or as often as necessary to prevent the growth of grass or +weeds growing within three or four feet of the stem of the tree. In +all dry climates and soils mulching should be considered an +important operation, not to be omitted until the trees are from six +to ten years old, and it may usually be continued a longer time with +benefit. + +=Propagation.=--All the species of the hickory are very readily +grown from nuts gathered when ripe and planted within a few weeks; +or they may be mixed with or stratified between layers of sand and +light soil and buried in the open ground for the winter, and the +planting deferred until the following spring. They are not at all +delicate and will withstand considerable drying and neglect, and +will grow, if stored in a cool cellar, without being packed in +either soil, sand or other material. But as I have had no occasion +to determine how much neglect these nuts will withstand, nor to what +extremes of adverse conditions it is safe to subject them, I shall +leave investigation in this direction to others, because in general +practice no valuable seed or plant grows any too readily and freely +to satisfy the cultivator, and for this reason I recommend either +planting hickory nuts in the fall, or burying them between layers of +light soil or sand, sifting out and planting early the following +spring. If any considerable quantity is to be planted they should be +dropped three or four inches apart in shallow trenches and covered +about two inches deep. The distance between the rows may be from two +to three feet, depending upon the implements to be used in their +cultivation. + +The soil for a seedbed should, of course, be made rich and deep, or +the same as recommended for chestnuts, and all the means usually +employed to assist the growth of cultivated plants are applicable to +nut trees. I may also add that cutworms, white grubs and other +noxious insects are enemies of nut-tree seedlings as well as garden +vegetables. The seedling hickories should be treated as advised for +chestnuts; that is, dug up when one or, at the latest, two years +old, and their central or taproot shortened to at least one-half +their original length, and then reset in nursery rows, and at a +distance of twelve to fifteen inches apart in the row. If grown in +ordinary upland, the transplanted seedlings will make a better +growth if heavily mulched than under the usual system of clean +cultivation, and it is usually less expensive; besides, by keeping +the surface of the soil cool and moist, we encourage and assist the +production of fibrous lateral roots, which, as a rule, are none too +abundant on seedling hickories, no matter under what conditions or +system of cultivation they are raised. + +When the seedlings have grown in the nursery rows two or three +years, they will probably be large enough for planting where they +are to remain permanently; but if, for any reason, they are not +disposed of, then they should be again transplanted,--the larger +roots shortened,--and re-set in good rich soil. The object of +transplanting is to insure the production of small fibrous roots, +and a frequent renewal of the same, close to the main stem or stock, +as long as the trees remain in the nursery, whether this be two or +twenty years. This is somewhat of an expensive operation, but the +value of stock thus handled is enhanced far more than the cost of +such transplanting, and purchasers are, or at least should be, +willing to pay a fair price for such trees. + +It is the natural habit of the hickories, as well as many other +kinds of deciduous trees, to produce in their earlier stages of +growth rather large, deeply penetrating, naked roots, with few small +fibers, and in this condition they are not so readily and +successfully transplanted as the kinds possessing a more ramified +root system. This, perhaps, has misled many persons to believe that +certain kinds of trees, like the hickories, could not be moved at +all, or at least not with any assurance of being made to live. This +idea has become so prevalent among inexperienced cultivators, and, I +regret to add, often reiterated by theorists, that it has +discouraged many who otherwise would have raised and planted nut +trees in preference to other kinds. + +Admitting that it is the general habit of most kinds of forest trees +to produce deeply penetrating taproots, when grown from seed, it +proves nothing more than that these parts may be of some importance +to the plants while they are young, and under natural conditions, +yet they are not absolutely necessary, and, at most, are only +temporary organs, like the tails of tadpoles, always disappearing +with maturity. + +Any one at all observing, and having had an opportunity of examining +limited or extended areas of forest trees thrown over by hurricanes, +must have noticed that no tree of any considerable size and age +possessed a taproot, but had been for years kept in its upright +position by lateral brace-roots, and through these it had also +obtained nutriment from the surface soil. Some of my correspondents +in the South have expressed their surprise at not finding any trace +of the original central roots on old pecan trees, when blown over by +severe wind storms. But it is the same everywhere with forest trees +and where the soil is naturally loose and moist: the principal or +supporting roots spread out widely and remain near the surface, and +the central roots or taproots disappear much earlier than in dry +soils. + +In multiplying trees under artificial conditions, we remove the +taproots, not only for convenience in transplanting, but also to +hasten and increase the production of surface lateral roots, and +more than this, we lessen the years of luxuriant sterility, securing +earlier fruiting by such operations as root pruning and frequent +transplanting. + +=Budding and Grafting.=--I have never known of an instance of +successful budding of the hickory, at least in the ordinary way +during the summer months. What is called "annular budding" in early +spring with buds of the previous season, is said to have been +successfully practiced with the pecan at the South, but this mode of +propagation is more of the nature of grafting than of what is +usually understood as budding. But I have been unable to obtain any +statistics in regard to the proportion of buds that any propagator +or experimenter has made live by this or other modes of propagation. +Col. Stuart says, in "The Pecan," p. 45, "There is a method known as +'annular budding,' which proves quite successful." He then proceeds +to describe the operation, as given in all works on the propagation +of trees and plants during the past hundred years or more, but not a +word to indicate what he considers a "success,"--whether it be once +or fifty times in a hundred, or if he ever succeeded in making an +annular bud unite to the stock; I am more inclined to think that he +never did, than otherwise. + +In Bulletin No. 105, "Nut Culture for North Carolina," issued from +the N. C. State Experiment Station, 1894, Mr. W. A. Taylor, +Assistant Pomologist U. S. Department of Agriculture, in referring +to budding and grafting of these trees, says: "These latter +operations are less successful with the pecan than most fruit trees, +though they are by no means impossible to accomplish. On seedlings +one or two years old annular budding in early summer succeeds best." +But here again we are left in doubt in regard to what the writer +considers "a success." Then, again, the line between the "possible" +and "impossible," in horticultural matters, is a rather difficult +one to determine, and Mr. Taylor fails to cite a single instance in +which either annular or any other form of either budding or grafting +had been successfully practiced. The Bulletins issued from the +Division of Pomology of the Department of Agriculture, give us no +information whatever on this subject of propagation of the +hickories, further than to repeat the old formulas of annular, +splice and cleft grafting; but as to results they have always been +provokingly silent. + +Having been repeatedly assured, by men who presumed to know, that +the pecan tree was successfully propagated in the South by grafting, +and many thousands annually raised in this way, it seems strange +that such plants are so rarely offered by nurserymen. Seedlings of +choice varieties are, of course, abundant enough, but a man might, +with as much propriety, offer seedling Bartlett pears or Baldwin +apples, as pecan trees, expecting to perpetuate varieties. In +corresponding with Mr. P. J. Berckmans, of the Fruitland Nurseries +of Augusta, Ga., whose experience and acquaintance with the fruits +of the South are, without doubt, in advance of any other +horticulturist of the past or even the present generation, in reply +to my request for information on grafting pecans, he writes: "For +the past five or six years we have grafted various varieties of the +pecan nuts. I do not know of any other nurseryman South who offers +grafted trees. I presume the reason of this is, the great difficulty +in having the grafts take, as we seldom have more than fifteen to +twenty-five per cent. grow. We usually crown graft in February, +using one-year-old seedlings grown in nursery rows. Owing to the +small percentage of grafts which grow, grafted trees must, +necessarily, be quite expensive, and for this reason there are so +few attempts made in this method of propagation." + +Mr. Berckmans makes no reference to annular budding of the pecan, so +strongly and frequently recommended by the several writers already +quoted, although I am certain that he is as familiar with this mode +of propagation as any one else, and would have practiced it had he +found it in any way superior to crown grafting. From all that I have +been able to learn through a rather extended correspondence, in +regard to the propagation of the pecan nut tree in the South, I +conclude that they are occasionally and sparingly grafted, but with +such indifferent results that they are not at all numerous in either +orchards or nurseries. + +From certain remarks of Col. Stuart, in his essay on "Pecan +Culture," I infer that he has sold grafted trees, for he says: + + "It costs no more to care for the grove of choice trees than of + poor ones; then, again, the grafted or budded ones come into + profitable bearing three years earlier than seedlings. Here is a + case in point: Last November (1892) we paid, in cash, two + hundred and forty-eight dollars for the nuts which grew upon one + tree, the crop of one year. The tree is twenty inches through at + its base, and forty-five feet high; such a size tree would grow + in twenty or twenty-five years. Now small nuts from the same + size tree will sell for not more than fifteen to twenty dollars. + Another tree only ten years old bore thirteen and a half dollars + worth. These choice nuts are such as we grow seedlings from; we + sell a great many more seedlings than we do grafted or budded + trees, simply because they are so much cheaper, and people in + general do not realize that such a vast difference exists + between the profits of seedling and grafted or budded trees; but + such is the case, and such it will always remain for aught we + can see." + +Soon after I published the description of the Hales' Paper-shell +hickory in 1870, requests for cions were received from nurserymen +and many amateur horticulturists, who were anxious to try their +skill in grafting this excellent variety. Mr. Hales generously +responded, and sent cions to a large number of correspondents in +various parts of the country, because he was desirous of having the +variety preserved and propagated. During the following ten years the +old original tree was kept pretty well pruned, in filling orders for +cions; those sent to nurserymen were to be raised on shares, +one-half of all the successfully grafted trees to be returned to Mr. +Hales. Being a near neighbor, my opportunities for keeping informed +as to the result of this arrangement was all that I could desire. To +one nursery firm in central New York Mr. Hales sent about one +thousand cions per annum for four successive years, and in return +received just four feeble grafted plants as his share of the total +product of the four thousand cions. But as the four plants received +soon died, he closed that account as one of total loss. Previously, +however, he had sent a quantity of cions to Mr. J. R. Trumpy, of the +Kissena Nurseries, Flushing, N. Y., whose skill as a propagator of +ligneous plants is probably second to that of no man in this +country; the result proved that our faith in the man was not +misplaced, for Mr. Hales received for his share of the experiment +something over two dozen grafted trees, and most of these are now +handsome specimens ten to twenty feet high. Just what percentage of +the cions set were made to unite and grow I have not been informed, +but the experiment was, doubtless, rather unsatisfactory as a +commercial transaction. + +In addition to the plants sent to Mr. Hales, there have been quite a +number distributed among the customers of the nurseries named; +consequently, we are pretty well assured of the perpetuation of this +remarkably fine variety, even when the original tree succumbs to old +age, or should it be accidentally destroyed. I am inclined to give +Mr. Trumpy credit for being the first man to graft the shellbark +hickory in this or any other country, and make the cions unite and +grow, for I have failed to find any instance of success in this mode +of propagating these trees, prior to his with the Hales' +Paper-shell. + +In reply to a note sent him a few months since, asking: "How did or +do you graft the hickories?" he replied as follows: + + "I put the hickory stocks in pots in the spring, and graft them + the following spring, say in April, and in the house. The cions + are cut during the winter, so as to keep them in good order + until wanted for use. I find it is better to operate in April + than earlier in the winter. I also graft them out of doors about + the beginning of May, when the stocks are growing. They will + succeed very well out of doors, provided the stocks are large + enough for the cions. Any kind of grafting will do, but crown + grafting is the best. I have not done much of late in the way of + grafting hickories in the nursery, not having suitable stocks; + besides, when the weather becomes warm enough for outside work, + vegetation pushes far too rapidly to give a man a chance to do + much of this kind of grafting." + +Since the above was written and while these pages were being put in +type, Mr. Jackson Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, +Mass., has given his method of grafting the hickories, in _Garden +and Forest_, Feb. 19, 1896, as follows: + + "My method," writes Mr. Dawson, "has been to side-graft, using a + cion with part of the second year's wood attached, binding it + firmly and covering it with damp sphagnum until the union has + been made. The best time I have found for the operation under + glass has been during February, and the plants have been kept + under glass until midsummer, and wintered the first year in a + cold frame. In all the genera I find certain species which may + be called free stocks,--that is, stocks which take grafts more + readily than others. Thus, nearly all the oaks will graft + readily on _Quercus Robur_; the birches will graft more easily + on _Betula alba_ than on others; so of the hickories, + observation has led me to believe that the best stock is the + bitternut, _Hicoria minima_. This species grows almost twice as + rapidly as the common shagbark hickory, and while young the + cambium is quite soft. I should advise anyone who wishes to + propagate hickories on a large scale to grow stocks of this + species in boxes not more than four inches deep. In this way all + the roots can be saved and there will be no extreme taproot, and + when shaken out of the boxes the plants are easily established + in pots and ready for grafting. If taken up in the ordinary way + from the woods, it requires almost two years to get them well + rooted, and often the stocks die for want of roots after the + grafts have really taken. If grown in rich soil, the stocks will + be large enough to use in one or two years. I should then pot + them early in the fall, keeping them from heavy frosts, and + bringing them into the house about the first of January, and as + soon as they begin to make roots. I should side-graft them close + to the collar and plunge them in sphagnum moss, leaving the top + bud of the graft out to the air. The graft ought to be well + united about the last of March, when the plants should be taken + from the sphagnum and set in the body of the house to finish + their growth." + +All who have had any experience in the propagation of trees by +grafting in spring, are well aware of the flight of time, in the +hurry of work that must be done in a few days or not at all. It is +true that the season for grafting may be prolonged or extended a +little by cutting the cions in winter and storing them in a cool, +moist place, where they remain dormant after vegetation has started +in the open air; but this does not affect the stocks, and these may +come on slowly or rapidly, varying with the seasons, and the grafter +must not only watch for opportune moments, but take his chances of +striking the right time and conditions, in order to be successful. +With such hard wood trees as the hickories it is better to be a +little ahead of time than a few days too late, for frosts, and even +quite a severe freeze, will not injure a dormant cion, and under the +most favorable conditions the union between stock and cion is a +rather slow process. For this reason I advise giving as much time as +possible, and while I do not claim to having had any personal +experience as a grafter, in the South, still I am inclined to think +that grafting in the fall, and not later than December, would be +preferable to later in winter or spring. By giving the cion and +stock two or three months in which to form granulations and +cohesion, there would be more certainty of success. Of course, I now +refer to what is called crown grafting on the root below the surface +of the ground, and when the cion is fixed in place with the usual +ligatures of waxed paper or cloth, the soil is drawn back into place +and the cion entirely covered with it, but very lightly over the +terminal bud. + +[Illustration: FIG. 68. CROWN GRAFTING ON ROOTS OF THE HICKORY.] + +Where small stocks are not at hand, the roots of large trees may be +severed and the end partly lifted towards the surface, as shown in +Fig. 68, and when grafted, allowed to remain in position until the +following season, and then taken up entire or with roots enough to +insure future growth. The same or a similar process may be practiced +to propagate a choice variety of the hickory, and a mere severing of +the roots will insure the production of suckers from near the +severed end, as shown in Fig. 69. + +[Illustration: FIG. 69. SPROUTS FROM SEVERED HICKORY ROOTS.] + +In grafting isolated stocks in this way, a small or large stake +should be placed by the side of each, to indicate their position, +and also protect them from being trampled upon. I make this +suggestion because, in my own experience, it has often proved +successful with various kinds of hard-wooded trees and shrubs that +failed when grafted in the spring. Here in the North it is rather +difficult, as well as expensive, to protect cions set in the open +ground in the fall; but in the South it is different, and a handful +of almost any coarse litter would be sufficient to prevent severe +freezing. + +But grafting in the fall in the open ground is unnecessary, where +small seedling stocks are used in the propagation of any kind of +tree; in fact, nurserymen do very little grafting of this kind in +spring, for they learned, by long experience, that the most +economical and certain method of multiplying such trees is to take +up the stocks in the fall, and then graft them indoors during the +winter, having stocks and cions stored in cool cellars or pits, +where they will be readily accessible when wanted. Apples, pears, +quinces, grapes, and many other kinds of hardy trees, shrubs and +vines are now extensively propagated by grafting during the winter +months, and I do not know of any good reason why the hickories and +other closely allied nut trees should not be multiplied in this way. +I have tried it, on a limited scale, with the shellbark hickories, +and with fair success, and in my opinion it is the only way by which +the hickories, including the pecan, can be multiplied cheaply enough +to become of commercial importance. + +The small stocks of one or two years old should be taken up in the +fall, and then crown grafted any time from December to March in the +Northern States, but the earlier the better; then pack away the +grafted stocks in moss or soil, in a cool cellar, or heel-in +elsewhere, as, for instance, in pits or frames, where they will not +be frozen, and yet cool enough to prevent active growth. + +In the spring the grafted stocks should be planted out in nursery +rows, and deep enough to have the top of the cion just level with +the surface after the soil has been settled about it by a shower or +heavy rains. The plants must be handled with care, so as not to +disturb the cions. Mulching will, of course, be beneficial in dry +seasons, and especially if the stocks are set in ordinary +well-drained soils. In selecting wood for cions, twigs of the +previous season's growth are usually preferred, but it is not +necessary, nor is it advisable to discard all except the extreme end +of the shoot or that containing a terminal bud, as some writers have +advised, to prevent rapid loss of moisture by evaporation, for a +drop of wax will seal the end of a cion as thoroughly and +effectually as a natural bud; besides, the lower part of the annual +twigs is often more firm and really better for grafting than the +upper and less sturdy wood, and the lateral buds on it will push +just as readily as the terminal one. The cion may be three or four +inches long, and contain two or more buds. The sealing of the upper +end of a cion that is not protected by a terminal bud is certainly +important with all of the hickories, for in this genus of trees the +pith is large and continuous, not intersected or cut off by a thin +partition of wood at the joints, as seen in many trees, shrubs and +vines. This large and continuous pith in the hickories is another +reason why the cions succeed best if set below the crown and in or +on the fleshy roots having no pith. They may be set on one side, as +in splice grafting, or in the center, or in a cleft made for their +reception with a sharp knife, then bound with waxed paper, or +wrapped with bass, raffia, or other similar material, and afterwards +covered with melted wax to exclude air and water from the joints and +wounds. + +In this mode of grafting hickories it is not necessary to employ the +entire root or stock, if it is of large size, for a single cion; for +pieces of from six to twelve inches long, containing a few lateral +fibers, will answer the purpose, and it will be found, in practice, +that these sections of the large fleshy roots contain so much +vitality that, if the cions set in them fail to grow, they will +throw up sprouts from adventitious buds during the ensuing summer. +Almost any fair-sized piece of root left in the ground, when digging +up hickory trees large or small, is pretty certain to throw up +sprouts, this not only showing their great vitality, but that +propagation by root cuttings is perfectly practicable and may be +utilized whenever and wherever it may be desirable. The man who +attempts to raise hickories from root cuttings must have patience, +for very frequently the cuttings will remain apparently dormant in +the ground one entire season before the sprouts appear above the +surface. I will also add that this slow or retarded germination +frequently occurs with the nuts, especially if they have become +somewhat dry before planting. + +For commercial purposes root-grafting small stock, as described, +during the fall and winter, gives promise of being the best and most +practicable system of multiplying varieties; but there is much yet +to be learned in regard to details, and hundreds of carefully +conducted experiments may be necessary to determine the exact time, +condition and mode of operation. It may be that very early grafting +is better than late, or that we have not, as yet, found the best +species for stocks, and that a half-ripened one will be preferable +to one fully matured. Neither has it, as yet, been determined what +kind of material is best in which to store the grafted roots: sand, +soil or sphagnum (moss) from the swamps; or whether they should be +kept very moist, or comparatively dry; very cold, or moderately +warm. Here is a wide field for experiments, and a most interesting +one; for the successful propagation of the hickories by any mode +that will insure the perpetuation and rapid multiplication of +varieties, means millions of dollars added to the wealth of the +country. + +=Age of Fruiting.=--We hear much of the precociousness of pecan +trees in the South, and many are reported as coming into bearing at +the age of six to ten years from the time of planting the nut; but +these are probably exceptional instances of early fruiting and not +the rule, although in a favorable soil and climate it is to be +expected that such trees will push forward more rapidly than under +less favorable conditions. Grafted trees will, of course, produce +fruit in less time than seedlings, and as this mode of propagation +becomes more general, and repeated in a direct ancestral line, the +cions for each successive generation of trees being taken from +mature or bearing specimens, the precocious and productive habit +will eventually become intensified, as it has been in all of our +long-cultivated fruit trees propagated by artificial methods. We +have so intensified the productiveness of many kinds of cultivated +fruits by selection, that it has become more of a fault, than a +merit to be encouraged. + +The nut trees are amenable to the same physiological laws as other +kinds, and in their propagation by grafting with cions from bearing +specimens we hasten maturity in the offspring. This has been fully +demonstrated in many varieties of the Persian walnuts and European +chestnuts. Here in the Northern States we have had so little +experience with grafted hickories of any species, that really +nothing is yet known as to how they will respond to this mode of +propagation, further than that they grow rapidly and give promise of +being fruitful. Seedling trees are, as a rule, of slow growth, +rarely attaining a bearing age and size under twenty years, and with +the shellbarks thirty or forty years usually pass before anything +like a crop of nuts is gathered. Something may be gained, in the way +of time, by frequent transplantings and pruning, but more by +grafting seedlings from old and mature trees. Two grafts of the +Hales' hickory commenced bearing at the age of sixteen years. + +=Planting for Profit.=--There are, doubtless, many thousands of +acres of half-denuded woodlands in almost every State in the Union, +both North and South, that could be readily utilized for growing +hickory timber, and much of such lands is almost useless for other +purposes; but timber culture and forestry is a subject which I have +discussed elsewhere,[1] while the object of this work is to aid my +readers in producing something that may be utilized as food. When +the hundreds and thousands of miles of our public highways are +shaded with hickory and other nut-bearing trees of the best species +and varieties, it will be time enough to begin planting such kinds +elsewhere. As roadside trees they cannot fail to be profitable, +largely enhancing the value of adjoining land; for in addition to +being equally as ornamental as other kinds, they yield fruit always +in demand at remunerative prices. The three species of the hickory +and their varieties recommended for cultivation all thrive best in +moist soils, but by occasional watering or thorough mulching they +will succeed almost anywhere, especially in naturally dry locations. + +[Footnote 1: Practical Forestry.] + +=Insect Enemies.=--The hickories, as with all other nut-bearing +trees, have numerous insect enemies, but these are neither so +numerous nor destructive as to seriously interfere with their growth +in general, or with their productiveness. Insects may occasionally +become exceedingly numerous in certain localities for a few years, +then suddenly or slowly disappear; but this we must expect, as one +of the coexisting phases of all agricultural pursuits. + +Collectively the hickories have no considerable number of +destructive insect enemies, but if we count all the species of the +various orders that have been found occasionally, or otherwise, +feeding on the leaves, buds, fruit, twigs, bark, or boring in the +solid wood, they make a very formidable list of names, or about one +hundred and seventy-five in all; but fully ninety per cent. of these +depredators are scarcely known, except to a few professional +entomologists, and unless they become more destructive in the future +than they are at present, or have been in years past, nut culturists +have little to fear from their depredations. Among the most common +species of insects injurious to the hickory, the following may prove +most annoying to the cultivator. + +[Illustration: FIG. 70.] + +THE HICKORY-TWIG GIRDLER (_Oncideres cingulatus._ Say).--A small +yellowish-gray beetle, a little less than an inch long, usually +appearing in this latitude during August, the females depositing +their eggs in the twigs of from a quarter to a half-inch in +diameter. On old large trees the loss of a few or many of these is +scarcely noticed; but on young seedlings or grafted stock it is +quite a different affair, for on such plants the females usually +select the leader in preference to the lateral twigs in which to +deposit their eggs. The female girdles the twigs for the purpose of +providing proper and acceptable food for her progeny; that is, first +the green, then the slowly drying, then the perfectly hard, seasoned +hickory or whatever kind she may have attacked. Selecting a suitable +twig, she rests upon it, usually with head downward (Fig. 70), and +with her mandibles cuts out a ring of bark about one-twelfth of an +inch wide, and deep enough to reach the firm wood underneath. The +place selected for this annular incision may be only a few inches +from the terminal bud, or a foot below it, and in some instances she +will cut two incisions on the same twig some distance apart, but +usually there is only one on a twig. While cutting this incision she +will sometimes rest long enough from her labors to deposit an egg in +the bark above. The number of eggs she deposits in the twig is +probably variable, but three full-grown grubs is the most I have +ever found, and the larger proportion examined had only one. This +girdling of the twig prevents the flow of sap, and the leaves soon +wither and drop off, and the bark and wood shrivel and become hard +and dry; but in the meantime the eggs have hatched and the minute +grubs have bored their way through the soft bark and reached the +pith, feeding in this while acquiring size and strength of jaws that +will enable them to consume more solid food later and during the +succeeding winter, spring and summer. Some do not reach maturity +until the second summer; at least, in this latitude, as I have found +after very careful observation and while collecting many hundreds of +specimens. I will say, however, that this insect is usually referred +to by entomologists as rather rare, and in general it is, but some +years ago, in an old clearing near by where there was a great number +of young hickory seedlings and sprouts, it was for a season or two +very abundant; then it suddenly disappeared, and I have not taken a +half-dozen specimens since. The grubs bore out the wood in the +infested twig, and in most instances so completely as to leave only +a thin shell of the wood or bark, by the time they have reached +maturity and are ready to pass into their imago or perfect-winged +stage. + +This species of twig girdler also attacks the apple, pear, +persimmon, elm, and other kinds of trees, and with those like the +apple, with a soft and brittle wood, the girdled twigs are +frequently broken off by the winds; but this rarely occurs with the +hickories, and we can usually find the stumps remaining on the trees +years after the beetles have emerged. The only way to keep this pest +in check is to cut off and burn the girdled twigs any time before +the larvæ have reached maturity, and as the girdled dead twigs are +readily seen, the gathering is not difficult, from medium-sized +trees. + +THE PAINTED HICKORY BORER (_Cyllene pictus._ Drury).--This is, +perhaps, one of the most common and widely distributed of all the +hickory borers, but, so far as my observations have extended, it +rarely attacks young or healthy trees of any age; in fact, I have +never found it in or about growing trees, but I have seen it, by the +thousands, breeding in decaying specimens and in hickory cordwood +cut during the winter months and ranked up in shady places. A +hickory tree cut down in fall or winter, and left on the ground or +cut up into cordwood, is pretty sure to attract this borer early in +spring, the females swarming over the bark, depositing their eggs +upon it, and by the ensuing autumn the wood will be fairly +honeycombed if this insect is at all abundant. The general color of +the beetle is black, and the size as shown in Fig. 71. There are +three narrow, whitish bands across the top of the thorax, and one +slightly broader band at the extreme point of the wing-covers; but +the next band is in the form of an inverted V; the point of the +[Inverted V] does not quite touch the broad lateral band, as in the +closely allied species known as the locust borer (_C. robiniæ_), +with which it is often confounded; besides, in the latter the +markings are of a deep yellow, and not white or of a faint yellowish +tinge. The hickory borer always appears in spring, and the locust +borer in the fall, not later than September in this part of the +country. Below or behind the V-shaped band there are three others, +but all broken up into mere dots, and not continuous. + +[Illustration: FIG. 71. HICKORY BORER.] + +In the South, and especially in Texas, there is a somewhat smaller +but closely allied species (_Cyllene crinicornis_) that attacks the +pecan tree and its wood in the same way as our common hickory borer, +but in the Southern or Southwestern species the bands on the +wing-covers are all interrupted or broken up into small white spots +or dots. I have no remedy to suggest, further than to cut down old, +infested trees, and to haul the wood out into the sun and spread it +out where it will quickly dry and become seasoned. If the felled +tree and wood is stripped of its bark as soon as cut, the female +beetles will not deposit their eggs upon it. + +There are other long-horned beetles (_Cerambycidæ_) that are +occasionally found breeding in the hickories, and among these may be +named the Belted Chion (_Chion cinctus_), Tiger Goes (_Goes +tigrinus_), Beautiful Goes (_Goes pulchra_), and the Orange Sawyer +(_Elaphidion inerme_), but they are usually quite too rare to be +considered as very destructive insects. + +HICKORY-BARK BORER (_Scolytus 4-spinosus._ Say).--Only once within +my memory has this minute but destructive beetle appeared in any +considerable numbers in my neighborhood, although I have +occasionally received a few specimens from correspondents in various +parts of the country, even as far west as the Pacific coast in +Washington. This borer is a very small, cylindrical, dark brown +beetle, about one-fifth of an inch or less in length, and +one-sixteenth in diameter. The hind part of the body is quite blunt +(truncate), the males having four short but distinct blunt spines, +two on each side, projecting from the hind part of the abdomen, +hence the name "4-spinosus." In the females these spines are absent, +otherwise they closely resemble the males. These bark borers usually +appear here in the Northern States the last of June or early in +July, and both sexes attack hickory trees of all species, but appear +to prefer the old and nearly mature trees to the young and small +with thinner bark. After boring through the bark and reaching the +soft cambium layer underneath, upon which these insects feed, the +female cuts a vertical channel in this substance, of little over an +inch in length. + +[Illustration: FIG. 72. BURROWS OF HICKORY SCOLYTUS.] + +This burrow is a little larger than the diameter of her body, and +along on both sides she deposits her eggs, to the number of ten to +thirty, placing about an equal number on each side. When these eggs +hatch, the young larvæ begin to feed on the soft material by which +they are surrounded, making minute burrows at first, and at nearly +right angles with the parent one; but as they increase in size they +are forced to diverge, those above the center working upward, and +those below downward, as shown in Fig. 72. These burrows enlarge as +the grubs increase in size, as shown, most of them reaching their +full development by the time cold weather sets in, but some do not +cease feeding until spring, then pass to the pupal stage, and later +to the perfect or beetle form, and from the extreme end of these +burrows they bore a hole straight out to the surface, and are then +ready to begin the cycle of life again, either on the tree from +which they have emerged, or others near by. Some fifteen years ago I +noticed that the leaves of some of the old hickory trees on my place +were turning yellow prematurely, and upon examination I found the +bark perforated with minute holes not larger than small bird shot, +indicating the presence of the bark borer under consideration. Seven +of the very largest and, presumably, the oldest, appeared to be +affected, and these were immediately cut down and stripped of their +bark, exposing the little grubs to the air and attacks of +insect-eating birds. These trees appeared to have been infested for +several years, as there was scarcely a spot on the surface of the +wood that had not been scarified with this pest. Since the +destruction of these trees I have not been troubled with bark +borers, although there are still a number of very old and large +hickories thriving in the same grove. The only remedy I can suggest +is to cut down infested trees as soon as they are discovered, and +also encourage the insect-eating birds to remain in and near the nut +groves. + +There are several other species of bark borers that occasionally +attack hickories, one of these, the _Chramesus icoriæ_, Leconte, +infests the small twigs, while another, the _Sinoxylon basilare_, +say, after boring through the bark, continues its course far into +the heartwood, showing a preference for this kind of food instead of +the living tissues. These pests, however, are rarely constant, but +very erratic, in their attacks, and while they may be rather +abundant on a few or many trees a season or two, they then +disappear, and not one may be seen for several decades. + +THE HICKORY-SHUCK WORM (_Grapholitha caryana._ Fitch).--The parent +of this pest is a minute moth of the family _Tortricidæ_, the small +caterpillars mining and boring the green husks, and sometimes into +the immature shell, causing the nuts to wither and drop off +prematurely, although an occasional one may reach maturity, even in +its scarified condition. This insect appears to be somewhat rare in +the East, but very abundant some years in the West, where it is +frequently destructive to the thick shellbark hickory and pecan. The +first fresh specimens of the Nussbaumer Hybrid pecan nut (referred +to on a preceding page) were so badly bored and scarified by this +worm when received, that they would have been nearly or quite +worthless for either planting or other purposes. As this insect +attacks the nuts on the very largest trees in the forest and +elsewhere, I cannot suggest any other remedy than to gather the +immature and infested nuts as they fall, and burn them, with their +contents. + +Among the larger Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) there are many +species, the caterpillars of which occasionally feed on the leaves +of the hickories, but not exclusively; consequently, they cannot be +considered as the special enemies of this genus of trees. When they +do attack them, it is as much due to accident as design. This is +certainly true with the great Luna moth (_Attacus luna_) and the +American silk worm (_Telea polyphemus_), and various species of the +Catocala, as well as the Tent caterpillar (_Clisiocampa sylvatica_). + +There is also a hickory-nut weevil, closely allied to the species +infesting the chestnut; and while not quite as large, its habits are +similar, and its ravages may be checked by the same or similar +means. The grubs bore into the green nuts, causing some to fall +before half-grown; others may remain in the nuts until they are ripe +and gathered in the autumn; consequently, perforated hickory nuts +are not at all rare, even on the stands of venders in our cities. + +Bud worms, leaf miners, leaf rollers and plant lice,--and among the +latter several gall-making species,--are to be found on the +hickories; but with all these natural enemies to contend with, the +hickories thrive, grow, and yield their fruits in greater or less +abundance. To enumerate, describe and illustrate all the insects +known to be enemies of the hickory would require a large volume, but +fortunately there are many special works published on the insects +injurious to vegetation, and these are readily obtainable by all who +may have occasion to consult their pages. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE WALNUT. + + +Juglans. The ancient Latin name, first used by Pliny, contracted +from _Jovis glans_, the nut of Jove or Jupiter. A genus of about +eight species, three or four of these indigenous to the United +States. + +=Order=, _Juglandaceæ_ (Walnut family).--Medium to large deciduous +trees with odd-pinnate leaves; leaflets from fifteen to twenty-one, +serrate, mainly oblong and pointed. The sexes of flowers separate +(monœcious) on the same tree, the males in pendulous green +cylindrical catkins two to three inches long, solitary or in pairs, +sessile,--not stalked, as in the hickories,--issuing from the +one-year-old twigs, and at the upper edge of the scar left by the +falling leaf of the previous season (Fig. 73), showing that the male +organs emanate from an aggregation of bud-cells in the axils of the +leaves during the preceding summer and autumn. Female flowers +terminal on the new growth in spring, also single, in clusters, and +occasionally in long pendulous racemes with a four-cleft calyx, four +minute petals and two thick curved stigmas. Fruit round or oblong +(Fig. 74); husk thin, drying up without opening by seams, as in the +hickories. Shell of nut either rough and deeply corrugated, with +sharp-pointed ridges, or quite smooth, with an undulating, wavy +surface, very thick in some species and thin in others; kernel two- +or indistinctly four-lobed, united at the apex, fleshy, rich and +oily. + +[Illustration: FIG. 73. PERSIAN WALNUT, SHOWING POSITION OF SEXUAL +ORGANS.] + +=History.=--The common walnut, so long and widely known in commerce +under various names, such as Persian, English, French, Italian and +European walnuts, also as Madeira nut, and recently Chile walnut, +are now all believed to have descended from trees native of Persia, +most plentiful in the province of Ghilan on the Caspian sea, between +latitude 35° and 40°, hence the old Grecian name of the fruit, viz.: +Persicon and Basilicon, or Persian Royal nut, probably because +either introduced by the Greek monarchs, or sent to them by the +Persian kings. Later,--according to Pliny,--the Greeks called the +trees _Caryon_, on account of the strong scent of the foliage, and +from this name Nuttall coined his word, _Carya_, for our indigenous +hickories, as explained in the preceding chapter. It should also be +noted here that the elder Michaux, in 1782-4, was the first modern +botanist to visit the province of Ghilan, and he determined, by +personal investigation, that this species of the walnut was really +indigenous to that region of country, along with the peach and +apricot. + +[Illustration: FIG. 74. BEARING BRANCH OF ENGLISH WALNUT.] + +Earlier European authors claim that the walnut was first introduced +into Italy by Vitellius (emperor) early in the first century of the +Christian Era,--but this is uncertain,--the Romans giving it the +name of _Juglandes_, or the nut of Jove or Jupiter, both being the +same mythical personage. The nuts, at this early day, were highly +prized, and also the wood of the tree, the latter being even more +valuable than that of the citron (orange and lemon). Ovid wrote a +poem about these nuts, entitled _De Nuce_, from which we learn that +boys were employed to, or did of their own accord, knock off these +nuts; and that at marriages walnuts were thrown by the bride and +bridegroom among the children, a ceremony which was supposed to +indicate that the bridegroom had left off his boyish amusements, and +that the bride was no longer a votary of Diana, and it is quite +probable that the French word for nuptials, _des nôces_, was derived +from this ancient custom. The ancients also believed that walnuts +possessed powerful medicinal properties, even to the curing of +hydrophobia; but in these latter days they have lost most of their +curative virtues, in the opinion of the medical fraternity. + +As with the chestnut, the planting of the walnut extended northward +into Gaul (France), hence the earlier name of Gaul nuts, which +became corrupted into walnuts by the English-speaking people. The +Italian name is _Noci_; in France, _Noyer_; and the Germans, with +their usual habit of compounding names, call it _walnuss-baum_ or +walnut tree. + +Joannis De Loureiro, in his work on the plants of China, "Flora +Cochinchinensis," published in 1790, claims that this Persian walnut +is also a native of the northern provinces of China, with two other +species which he describes (p. 573), adding, however, that one of +these is cultivated in Cochin China, and the other is found wild in +the mountains. + +The wild form of this world-wide-famous nut is, doubtless, quite +different from the varieties with which we are familiar, for two +thousand years or more of continuous cultivation and selections have +greatly changed the character of these nuts, as well as the habit of +the trees. The nuts from the wild trees are said to have a rather +thick shell, and to be much smaller than the best of the improved +cultivated varieties, or very like those we now obtain in China and +Japan. The Persian walnut, in its many varieties, has been planted +almost everywhere in Europe as far north as Warsaw, but does not +appear to have run wild and become naturalized, as with many other +kinds of fruit and forest trees. In Great Britain it has probably +been cultivated ever since the invasion of the country by the +Romans, although a much later date is named by some of our modern +horticultural authorities. Dodoens (1552), Gerarde (1597), Parkinson +(1629), and other of our early authors of works on cultivated +plants, speak of the Persian walnut as common in various countries +of Europe, Great Britain included. John Evelyn, in his "Sylva" +(1664), says: + + "In Burgundy, walnut trees abound where they stand, in the + meadows of goodly lands, at sixty and a hundred feet distance, + and so far as hurting the crop, they are looked upon as great + preservers, keeping the ground warm, nor do the roots hinder the + plow." + +Evelyn, no doubt, had read what Pliny had said on this point, viz.: + + "Even the oak will not thrive near the walnut tree; which, if it + be true, may be owing to the interference of their roots in the + subsoil; but it is certain that neither grass nor field nor + garden crops thrive well under the walnut." + +Evelyn was far too good a gardener and close observer to fall into +the error of attributing noxious properties to the walnut tree, +although Pliny's assertion, which has no foundation beyond his +imagination, has been many times repeated in these days of supposed +general intelligence. Small plants may fail, under the shade of +large trees, or when deprived of moisture by the roots of such +trees, but the walnut is no exception to the rule; in fact, such +deep-rooted kinds are less injurious than those with roots nearer +the surface. Evelyn, in continuing his account of the walnut in +Germany, says: + + "Whenever they fell a tree, which is only the old, decayed, they + always plant a young one near him, and, in several places + betwixt Hanau and Frankfort, no young farmer whatsoever is + permitted to marry a wife till he bring proof that he is a + father of such a stated number of walnut trees; and the law is + inviolably observed to this day, for the extraordinary benefit + which this tree affords the inhabitants." + +What a pity that some such custom could not have prevailed during +the past century in the United States. The author from whom I have +just quoted adds that the Bergstrasse, which extends from Heidelberg +to Darmstadt, is all planted with walnuts. + +Cold winters, however, have occasionally played havoc with the +walnut trees in Europe, and one of these occurred in 1709, when the +greater part of the trees were seriously injured, especially in +Switzerland, Germany and France. Many trees were cut down for their +timber, which is always in great demand for gun-stocks and +furniture. Certain Dutch capitalists, foreseeing the scarcity of +walnut timber, bought up all they could procure, and years +afterwards sold it at a greatly advanced price. In the year 1720 an +act was passed in France to prevent the exportation of walnut +timber, and this led to the planting of these trees more extensively +than at any previous date; this practice has continued to the +present time, hence the immense revenue secured from the exportation +of these nuts. The people of the United States are good customers +for the surplus stock of Europe, and will probably so continue, +until we wake up to a sense of our folly of perpetually buying +articles that could be readily produced at home, and at a very large +profit. + +=Persian Walnut in America.=--The date of the first experiment in +planting this nut in this country is now probably unknown, but the +oldest tree that I have been able to find with anything like a +satisfactory history, is still growing vigorously at Washington +Heights, on Manhattan Island, near 160th street and St. Nicholas +avenue. I gave a brief history of this noble monarch of its race in +the _American Garden_ for September, 1888, from which the following +account is condensed: + + "In 1758 Roger Morris, an English gentleman, built a spacious + mansion on his estate, at what, in later years, became known as + Washington Heights. His grounds were well laid out for that + time, and many rare foreign trees and shrubs planted, among them + several, as then called, English walnuts. Whether these trees + were raised from the nuts, or plants of some size imported, is + not now known. Mr. Morris may have procured the seedlings from + the Prince Nursery, Flushing, L. I., for this famous garden was + established in 1713, or forty-five years previous to the + building of the Morris mansion and the planting of the grounds + about it. + + "At that period no one doubted the hardiness of the so-called + English walnut in America, and as most of the nuts and trees + procured for planting came from acclimated stock in Great + Britain or the cooler region of Europe, success usually attended + such experiments. Our pioneers and horticulturists fully + expected that the trees would thrive and bear nuts in abundance, + and time has shown that they were not mistaken, although we + frequently see it stated at this late day, that the Persian + walnut is not hardy north of the latitude of Washington, + Philadelphia, or other cities south of New York. + + "One hundred and thirty-eight years have rolled by since walnut + trees were planted at Washington Heights, and at least one of + the originals has escaped destruction and holds its head aloft, + defying the tempests which frequently sweep over that elevated + and exposed spot on Manhattan Island. This veritable patriarch + of its race in America is a monster in size, its stem between + four and five feet in diameter at the base and more than + seventy-five feet high, with wide-spreading branches. + + "In the summer of 1776 the Battle of Long Island was fought, and + the American forces were compelled to retreat in confusion to + New York, thence northward up the island; but when they reached + Fort Washington, not far from the eleventh milestone on the old + Albany post road, they made a stand and proceeded to entrench + themselves at that place. This was in September, 1776, and + General Washington took possession of the Morris mansion near + by, making it his headquarters, and, as this was at the season + when the walnuts had reached an edible stage, we may safely + presume, from his well-known predilection for such delicacies, + that he tested the quality of the Morris walnuts. One hundred + and twenty years later I am writing this, with some fresh + specimens of nuts before me from that same old tree. + + "This old patriarch has cast its shade over many a noted person + in its time, for in 1810 the Morris estate passed into the hands + of Madame Jumel, a lady long famous for her hospitality and the + good cheer she extended to the surviving patriots of the + Revolution. From 1810 to the time of her death, 1865, Madame + Jumel's household always had an abundance of walnuts from the + old tree, and one of the workmen on the place informed me that + about two cartloads was considered a fair annual crop." + +It cannot be many years before this old tree will meet the same fate +that has overtaken many of its younger contemporaries which were +once growing in the neighborhood, for with the rush for building +lots and the opening of new streets and avenues, trees are usually +in the way, and in such cases even patriarchs are not sacred, nor do +they command much respect from our urban population.[2] + +[Footnote 2: Since writing the above, and while these pages are +being put in type, accidentally I learn with regret that the old +Morris walnut tree has been destroyed.] + +A half-century ago there was quite a large number of walnut trees +scattered about on the northern half of Manhattan Island, many of +these probably descendants of the old Morris trees, but of this +nothing definite is now known. A number of persons whose ages +permitted them to scan the early days of the present century, have +assured me that in their childhood they had often collected walnuts +from goodly sized trees on farms, from Harlem northward on the +island. The largest number of Persian walnut trees planted in any +one place was on the Tieman farm at Manhattanville, these being set +out as roadside trees, some of which are still standing, although in +the march of improvements they must soon disappear. These trees have +always been noted for their productiveness, bearing a full crop +every alternate year, and a lighter one in what is termed the "off +season." + +While the old Morris walnut tree, and the large number growing on +the Tieman estate, and scores of others scattered about New York +city and its suburbs, have been, and many still are, living +witnesses of the fact that varieties of the Persian walnut will +thrive in this latitude, certain horticultural authors and essayists +have continually asserted the contrary. + +Mr. F. J. Scott, in his superb and voluminous work, "Suburban Home +Grounds," in speaking of this species of the walnut, says, p. 351: + + "Though greatly valued in England and on the continent for its + beauty, as well as for its nuts, its want of hardiness in the + Northern States, and lack of any peculiar beauty in the South, + has prevented its culture to any great extent in this country. + South of Philadelphia it may be grown with safety." + +This seems strange language to have come from such an eminent +authority as the late Mr. Scott, inasmuch as he must have passed a +hundred times within sight, if not in the very shadow of the rows of +old walnut trees growing at Manhattanville, when going from New York +city to Newburgh, where he studied landscape gardening under the +lamented A. J. Downing, and to whom the work from which I have +quoted is dedicated. It is quite evident, however, that our author, +like many others, failed to see things that should have interested +him. + +As an offset to Mr. Scott's idea of the northern limit for the +successful cultivation of this nut, I may refer to the work of Mr. +George Jacques, "Practical Treatise on Fruit Trees, Adapted to the +Interior of New England," published at Worcester, Mass., 1849. In +referring to the European walnut, p. 238, he says: + + "It is perfectly hardy on Long Island, and to the south of New + York, and as far north as the city of Charlestown in this State + (Mass.), where there may be seen, in the enclosure of a + residence on Harvard street, two fine trees of this kind, either + of them much taller and larger than our large-sized apple trees. + We have eaten nuts from these trees well ripened and fully equal + to any of those imported. The trees often bear a crop of some + bushels." + +It is unnecessary to search for further proof to show that certain +excellent varieties of the Persian walnut do thrive and bear +abundantly in our Northern States; not, perhaps, in the extreme +boreal borders of New England, nor in those of the northwest, but +the acclimated sorts are pretty safe as far north as 42° of +latitude, and in protected locations may crowd up a half degree +more. I have found very productive trees of this nut in northern New +Jersey, several in Bergen county, others in Passaic, and thence +southward, and while they are few in number, they are sufficient to +prove that this tree is adapted to the soil and climate of the +entire State. We seldom find more than one or two trees in any +garden, and these are probably more the result of accident than +design, their owners seeming to be satisfied in possessing something +in the way of a tree not common in the neighborhood, never thinking +that it might be well to plant enough of such trees to have them +become a source of revenue. The parentage of quite a number of these +bearing trees is readily traced to the Morris and Tieman stock, +showing that these old trees are of a hardy and prolific race, which +are well worthy of perpetuation for cold climates. Very old and +large walnut trees are reported as growing in Pennsylvania and other +of the Middle States, but they are far from being numerous. It has +long been claimed that this species of nut succeeded best in the +Southern States, and it is probably true, especially with the tender +varieties; but for some reason, unknown to me, they have not been +planted there in sufficient numbers to have, as yet, become of any +commercial importance. + +During the past twenty-five years these nuts have been more +extensively planted in California than elsewhere in the United +States, and we may expect soon to know something definite in regard +to results. Nearly all of the favorite French varieties have been +introduced, and are now being tested in different parts of the +State, and it is quite likely that the greater part will succeed, +although some of the early-blooming sorts may fail in localities +subject to late spring frosts. Previous to the introduction of +grafted trees of the named varieties, the only trees of this kind +planted in California were seedlings raised from the common imported +nuts; but I have no statistics at hand to determine the date of the +first plantings of this kind. + +Of late years there has been received, at some of our seaports, and +especially at New York, some quite large consignments of walnuts +from South America, under the name of "Chile walnuts," but they are +only varieties of the Persian raised in Chile. They are generally of +good size, moderately thin shelled, with plump kernels of excellent +flavor. They are in great demand for confectionery, and are really +better for such purposes than the larger and fancy bleached walnuts +imported under the somewhat general name of Grenobles, or French +walnuts. Owing to the difference of climate, these Chile walnuts +arrive here late in winter, or about the time those coming from +European countries the previous autumn begin to become somewhat +stale. + +Of our native species of this genus (_Juglans_), the almost +everywhere common butternut ranks first in flavor and general +estimation, but owing to its hard, rough shell, and the difficulty +in extracting the kernel, it has never become of any considerable +importance, although usually found in our markets in limited +quantities. Of course, it is a general favorite in the country, and +wherever found in sufficient quantities the boys and girls lay up a +goodly supply for winter use; and cracking butternuts during the +long winter evenings is a pastime and pleasure not to be ignored nor +forgotten. The flavor of the butternut is far more delicate, and +better, than any of the Persian species, but the difficulty in +extracting the rather small kernel is a serious objection. + +The black walnut has a larger kernel, in proportion to its size, +than the butternut, and it is not so difficult to extract when the +nuts are dry, but the flavor is too rank for most palates, although +it has often been referred to as excellent by the earlier botanists +who visited this country; but it has never been considered of much +value until quite recently, or since the manufacturers of +confectionery discovered that heat somewhat subdued the rank flavor, +and now many tons of the meats are annually consumed in candies and +walnut cakes. I am credibly informed that cracking black walnuts and +shipping the meats to our larger cities has become quite an +extensive industry in several of the Middle and Western States. We +have two other but smaller native species of the walnut that will be +described further on, under the head Species and Varieties. + +=Propagation of Walnuts.=--The propagation of the walnut in the +natural way, or by seed, is exceedingly simple, for the nuts grow +readily and freely if planted soon after they are ripe, or any time +before they become old and the kernels shriveled. It is, of course, +best to plant them while fresh, but they are not at all delicate, +and may be transported a long distance in a dry condition without +seriously affecting their vitality. If walnuts are given the same +care as recommended in the preceding pages for other kinds of nuts, +so much the better. + +The seedlings of walnuts, like those of other species, usually +produce long taproots, and if grown in a compact soil, these will +have few small lateral fibers the first season, as shown in Fig. 75; +but when taken up and the vertical main root shortened at _a_, and +then replanted, they produce fibrous roots in abundance. The trees +of almost any age from one to twenty years old, are not at all +difficult to make live when transplanted, provided the branches or +tops of the trees are reduced, to correspond with loss of roots in +digging up at the time of removal. It may be well to give a word of +caution to the novice in nut culture about pruning nut trees in +spring, after the sap begins to flow; for if done at this time they +will bleed freely and leave unhealthy wounds and black, unsightly +spots on the bark. Prune walnuts in summer or early in winter, to +give time for the wounds to season before the buds swell in spring. +If young trees are to be dug up, prune after they are taken from the +ground, then the sap will not flow from the wounds. This is true of +all deciduous trees, vines and shrubs. If the trees have few small +roots when taken up, prune severely; but if roots are abundant, +little pruning will be required. It is seldom, however, in +transplanting walnuts, that the pruning need be as severe as +recommended for the chestnut; in fact, having transplanted walnuts +of various species, and of all ages from one to twenty years, +without the loss of a plant, I have come to the conclusion that they +are pretty safe trees to handle, in this climate, at least, if not +elsewhere. + +[Illustration: FIG. 75. SEEDLING WALNUT.] + +In seeking walnuts from a distance, for planting anywhere in the +Middle or Northern States, it will be well to learn something in +advance about the climate in which the nuts are raised; for it would +be folly to send for either trees or nuts to a warm or semi-tropical +region, like that of southern France or Spain, for a stock to +cultivate in a climate as cold as that of New York, New Jersey, and +States on the same line westward. We might, perchance, from such +importation, secure one hardy plant in a hundred or thousand, but +there would be no certainty of even this small number. + +This idea of acclimation and adaptation of trees to conditions and +climate should not be overlooked by the nut culturist, no matter +from what source he procures his stock, whether from abroad, or some +distant region of his own country. If it can be obtained from a +region where it has been growing under conditions similar to those +to which it is to be transferred for cultivation, then the chances +of success will certainly be largely augmented. Acclimation is a +slow process; in fact, too slow for us to expect to secure any +appreciable advantages from it in a lifetime, but in nature we seek +final results, leaving time out of the question. + +In raising seedling trees we cannot expect much more than a +reproduction of the species, and not that of the parent tree. Plants +that have been subjected to unnatural conditions and surroundings, +as usual under cultivation, are far more likely to show a wider +range of variation in the seedlings than those growing wild in their +native habitats; but even the latter cannot be depended upon to +reproduce exact types from seed. In other words, there is nothing +certain about seedling nut trees; the large nuts may produce trees +bearing very small ones, the early-ripening give late ones, the tall +dwarf trees and the precocious fruiting some of the most tardy +varieties; and yet, with all this uncertainty, we still think it +best to select for planting the best nuts obtainable, _i. e._, best +and most promising for the conditions under which the seedlings are +to be grown. + +For the multiplication and perpetuation of choice varieties we must +resort to artificial modes of propagation, mainly by budding and +grafting. These modes, however, while the best at present known, are +so difficult and uncertain in cool climates,--even in the hands of +the most skilful propagators,--that grafted walnut trees have never +been very plentiful in the nurseries of this or other countries with +which we have commercial relations. In the south of France +nurserymen appear to have been more successful in the propagation of +walnuts by budding and grafting, than elsewhere; but in the northern +provinces, as well as in Great Britain, we hear little of this mode +of propagation. So difficult has this mode of propagating the walnut +been considered in England, that Thomas Andrew Knight, president of +the London Horticultural Society, early in the present century +discouraged all attempts to propagate this tree by such means; but +later, in a paper read before the Society April 7, 1818, he admits +to having changed his mind, especially in regard to budding the +walnut, and says: + + "The buds of trees of almost every species succeed with most + certainty when inserted on the shoots of the same year's growth; + but the walnut tree appears to afford an exception; possibly, in + some measure, because its buds contain within themselves, in the + spring, all the leaves which the tree bears in the following + summer, whence its annual shoots cease to elongate soon after + its buds unfold; all its buds of each season are also, + consequently, very nearly of the same age, and long before any + have acquired the proper degree of maturity for being removed, + the annual branches have ceased to grow longer or to produce new + foliage.... To obviate the disadvantage arising from the + preceding circumstances, I adopted means of retarding the period + of the vegetation of the stocks comparatively with that of the + bearing tree: and by these means I became partially successful. + There are, at the base of the annual shoots of the walnut and + other trees, where these join the year-old wood, many minute + buds which are almost concealed in the bark, and which rarely or + never vegetate but in the event of the destruction of the large + prominent buds which occupy the middle and opposite end of the + annual wood. By inserting in each stock one of these minute buds + and one of the large prominent kind, I had the pleasure to find + that the minute buds took freely, while the large all failed + without a single exception." + +From the above and other remarks of Mr. Knight, in the paper read by +him, I infer that he kept the stocks in pots stored in a cool place +in spring, until he could obtain shoots of the season from bearing +trees, and from these minute undeveloped axillary buds for inserting +in the stocks. These buds, as he informs us, are inserted in the +wood of the preceding season, and near the summit or top. He does +not give any directions for holding the buds in place, whether by +waxed or plain bass ligatures; the former, however, would probably +be preferable, for the purpose of excluding the air and water. + +Some twenty years later (1838) J. C. Loudon, in "Arboretum +Britannicum," etc., refers to the propagation of the walnut as +follows: + + "Much has been written on the subject by French authors, from + which it appears that in the north of France, and in cold + countries generally, the walnut does not bud or graft easily by + any mode; but that in the south of France and north of Italy it + may be budded or grafted by different modes, with success. At + Metz, the Baron de Tschoudy found the flute method (Fig. 76) + almost the only one which he could practice with success. By + this mode an entire ring of bark, containing one or more buds, + is removed from a twig on a tree to be multiplied, and + transferred to the stock, and made to fit as shown. If the ring + is too large, a slice may be cut off; and if too small, a piece + of the bark of the stock may be left to fill the space." + +Both stock and parent tree must be in about the same condition or +stage of growth when this ring budding is done, in order that the +bark containing the bud may peel off freely from the wood, and this +is always in the spring, soon after the buds begin to unfold and the +sap is in motion. Loudon says that in Dauphine, France, young plants +in the nurseries are budded chiefly by this mode, which succeeds +best the closer the operation is performed to the collar of the +plant; and the same is true in grafting, the nearer the root the +better, as has been found by experience with hickories. + +[Illustration: FIG. 76. FLUTE BUDDING.] + +Charles Baltet, in his "L'Art de Greffer," recommends grafting in +the usual mode of crown grafting, also flute or ring grafting, in +April or May, and ordinary cleft grafting close to the root and at +the forks of the branches, etc. He says that the cion should be cut, +as much as possible, obliquely across the pith, so that it may be +exposed on one side only. He also advises using cions whose base +consists of wood of two years' growth, and these furnished with a +terminal bud. He cautions propagators against grafting early-growing +kinds upon those of later vegetation. If walnuts of any of the +native or foreign species have been successfully propagated by +budding or grafting, at any of the nurseries in our Eastern States, +it has not been made known in the nurserymen's catalogues. + +Michael Floy, who early in the present century had quite extensive +grounds devoted to fruit and ornamental trees, near what is now the +center of New York city, as we learn from his "Guide to the +Orchard," published in 1833, claims, in this work, that the Persian +walnuts thrive well in this country, but admits that he had never +succeeded in grafting the trees, and with the hickories had no +better success, although he had tried them many times; but he adds: + + "Still I do not say it is impossible either to bud or graft + them; but there is something peculiar about it, for both the bud + and graft turn black when cut, almost instantaneously. Others + may succeed better, but let them try it before they affirm it + upon hearsay; they may succeed very well by inarching." + +Coming down to the present day, in our search for facts and +information in regard to the propagation of varieties of the walnut, +we may find it interesting to visit California, which, of all the +States of the Union, is perhaps the best adapted to nut culture in +general; besides, a larger number of nut trees of various kinds have +been planted there than elsewhere in this country. It is in +California that we find such men as Felix Gillet, of Nevada City, an +enthusiastic propagator and cultivator of fruit and nut trees, and +especially of the latter, if we may judge by his works and writings +on this branch of horticulture,--and so far as I have been able to +learn, he is the only nurseryman in the United States who has +grafted walnut trees of many different varieties for sale. + +In regard to modes of propagation, Mr. Gillet says that the common +mode of shield budding, as employed on fruit trees, fails entirely +with small walnuts from one to three years from the seed, and it +does but seldom succeed even on larger stocks. When tried on large, +old stocks, he advises removing all the wood from the inner side of +the strip of bark on which the bud is situated, and at the same time +have this strip not less than two inches long and as broad as +possible. He describes his mode of grafting walnuts, which does not +differ materially from those already given. That he has never +attained any very remarkable results may be inferred from the +following: + + "We will add that the 'grafted walnuts' that we offer were + grafted expressly for us, regardless of cost, by the most + reliable firm to be found in the walnut district in France, + through a process discovered several years ago, and which we + will briefly describe for the benefit of people who may be + inclined to try this new method of grafting very young walnuts. + + "One-year-old seedlings of the size of the little finger, or + about one-half inch in diameter at the butt, are selected, the + root cut back short enough to permit the planting of the trees + in pots of three inches in depth; the trees, previously to being + potted, are grafted with cions exactly of the same size, whip or + cleft grafting being used; the pots are then taken to a hot or + propagating house, and a glass bell set over them to prevent the + outside air getting to the grafts, the temperature of the house + being kept day and night, at least for fifteen days, or till the + grafting has taken, to 70° F. When the grafts are well taken and + growing, the glass bells are removed, and the grafts allowed to + grow three or four inches, before the little grafted trees are + set out in nursery rows; it may be preferable, especially in + certain parts of the country, to keep the trees in the pots till + the ensuing spring. Forty to fifty per cent of the grafts will + succeed, and it is the best that can be done. + + "This mode of grafting the walnut, besides requiring a hothouse, + needs the care of a skillful person to make it succeed. So are + grafted the little trees that we import from France, and that we + plant in nursery rows and offer to the public." + +For other modes of root grafting, I refer the reader to those +recommended for the hickories, in the preceding chapter. Propagating +walnuts by layers is practicable, where the small trees have been +cut down to force out new shoots near the surface of the ground, +then bent down and covered with soil in the usual method of layering +woody plants. + +=Planting and Pruning.=--The plants will produce a greater number of +fibrous roots if the nuts are planted in light, loose, but rich +soil, than in a heavy, tenacious one; but with all kinds it is best +to transplant when one or two years old, and cut off a portion of +the taproots, as recommended for the hickories. When removed from +the nursery rows for final planting, prune away nearly or quite all +side branches, leaving only the terminal bud if the trees are not +more than six to eight feet high. After final planting where the +trees are to remain permanently, very little pruning will ever be +required, further than to cut away branches that may cross each +other, or to shorten some to give proper form to the head. No tree +in cultivation requires less pruning than walnuts. + +As a genus of trees the walnuts flourish best in deep, rich loam, +rather light than heavy, and in this country require considerable +moisture at the roots, and some, like the butternut, succeed best in +bottomlands, near creeks and larger streams. If the soil is +naturally too dry for such trees, the fault can be readily remedied +by the use of some form of mulch applied to the surface of the soil +around the stem after planting, renewing this annually, or oftener +if necessary, until the trees are large enough to shade the ground. + +Walnut trees, as well as the closely allied hickories, are well +adapted for roadside planting, and when set in such positions are +far less likely to be injured by insects than when planted in +orchards or large groups, besides serving a double purpose, being +ornamental as well as useful. They may also be planted around +buildings, and where other and less valuable trees are generally +grown. There are also millions of acres of rocky hill-sides and old +fields which might be utilized for nut orchards, and if rather +widely scattered over such land they would prove beneficial in +shading the pasture grasses. First of all, however, let us have rows +of these trees along all our country roads, after which it will be +time enough to begin planting them elsewhere. + + +SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF WALNUTS. + +=Native of the United States= (_Juglans cinerea._ Linn.). Butternut. +White Walnut.--Leaflets fifteen to nineteen, oblong-lanceolate and +sharp-pointed, rounded at the base, downy, especially on the +underside, petioles covered with viscid hairs; fruit oblong, two or +more inches in length, with a clammy husk, not opening when ripe, +but closely adhering to the deeply corrugated and rough, thick +shell. Trees with wide-spreading branches, and of medium hight, or +from forty to fifty feet, but in deep forests sometimes sixty to +seventy, with stems two to three feet in diameter. A common tree in +moist soils almost everywhere, from the Canadas southward to the +highlands of northern Georgia, Alabama, and sparingly in Mississippi +and Arkansas, and all the States bordering the Mississippi river +northward to Minnesota. A valuable timber tree, with soft, light +wood, much used of late for furniture and inside house finishing. In +early times the inner bark was employed for making a yellow dye, +also as a medicine, the extract being a mild cathartic, hence one of +the specific names, _Cathartica_. + +Synonyms. + + _Juglans oblonga alba_, Marshall. + _Juglans cathartica_, Michaux. + _Carya cathartica_, Barton, 1818. + _Wallia cinerea_, Alefeld, 1861. + +=Varieties of the Butternut.=--There are to be found many varieties +of the butternut, varying mainly in the size of the nuts, and only +slightly in the thickness of the shell; but I am not aware that any +of these have ever been propagated, all the trees in cultivation or +elsewhere having been grown from the nuts. This nut is, no doubt, +susceptible of great improvement, as well as others of the genus, +and it is worthy of being experimented with for that purpose, +especially in cold, northern climates, where there are few or no +other kinds of edible nuts. Probably the most direct and surest way +to secure improved varieties is by hybridizing, taking the butternut +for the female parent, and the Persian walnut for the male. Hybrids +between these two species are already known, and they will, no +doubt, become more plentiful as soon as skillful horticulturists are +encouraged to produce them. Several hybrid walnuts of other species +are figured and described by European horticulturists, but, so far +as known, they are mainly accidental productions, and not the result +of any direct effort of man; nature, in this instance, merely giving +a hint of the possible, leaving us to avail ourselves of the lesson +if we feel so inclined. + +J. Le Conte, in a list of four hundred and fifty plants, collected +by him on the island of New York (Manhattan), and published in the +"Medical and Philosophical Register," Vol. II, 1812, mentions a +hybrid walnut among the number. Dr. John Torrey, in "Catalogue of +Plants," etc., 1819, refers to this tree under the name of _Juglans +hybrida_, and says that it is growing near where Eighth avenue +intersects the road called Lake Tours, about three miles from the +city, and is a large tree. This specimen probably disappeared long +ago, and we have no means now of determining its origin or between +what two species it was a hybrid. + +Recently Prof. C. S. Sargent has discovered other hybrid walnuts in +the neighborhood of Boston, and figured and described one in _Garden +and Forest_ for Oct. 31, 1894. He says: + + "My attention was first called to the fact by observing that a + tree which I had supposed was a so-called English walnut + (_Juglans regia_), in the grounds connected with the Episcopal + school of Harvard college, at Cambridge, was not injured by the + cold of the severest winters, although _Juglans regia_ generally + suffers from cold here, and rarely grows to a large size. This + individual is really a noble tree; the trunk forks, about five + feet above the surface of the ground, into two limbs, and + girths, at the point where its diameter is smallest, fifteen + feet and two inches. The divisions of the trunk spread slightly + and form a wide, round-topped head of pendulous branches of + unusual symmetry and beauty, and probably sixty to seventy feet + high. A closer examination of this tree showed that it was + hardly to be distinguished from _Juglans regia_ in habit, in the + character of the bark, or in the form and coloring of the + leaves, and that the oblong nut, with its thick shell deeply + sculptured into narrow ridges, was the slightly modified nut of + our native butternut, _Juglans regia_. Two other trees with the + same peculiarities were afterwards found. One is a large, + wide-spreading specimen, with a trunk diameter of four feet + three inches about two feet above the surface of the ground, and + just below the point where it divides into three large limbs. + This is on the grounds of Mr. Eben Bacon of Jamaica Plain, and + is supposed to have been planted between fifty and sixty years + ago. The other has a tall, straight trunk, with a diameter of + three feet one inch at three feet above the surface of the + ground, and is growing on a farm near Houghton's Pond, in + Milton, at the base of the southeastern slope of the Blue + Hills." + +That there should be hybrid walnuts is nothing strange or wonderful, +and we often marvel that there should be so few of them in regions +where two or more species are growing in close proximity in the same +forest, or elsewhere, but from whence came these specimens in +Massachusetts is somewhat of a mystery. We may safely conclude, +however, that the hybridizing did not occur there, but somewhere +else, and either the nuts or small seedling trees were introduced +and planted where these hybrid specimens are now growing. It is +possible that they are descendants of the old hybrid walnut tree of +New York city, mentioned by Le Conte and Dr. Torrey, some one having +sent nuts or seedlings to friends in Massachusetts, and the three +trees described by Prof. Sargent are merely those which have +survived until the present day, these retaining the hybrid +characteristics of their parent. These hybrids may or may not +possess any special economic value, but they are of considerable +scientific interest, and for this reason alone are well worthy of +careful preservation and extensive propagation. + +_Butternut Sugar._--It has often been claimed that sugar can be made +from the native butternut tree, and while it is true that the +sweetish sap flows readily from wounds made in this tree in early +spring, the amount and quality of sugar to be obtained from it is +scarcely worthy of serious attention. In my boyhood days butternut +syrup and sugar were considered as "sticky jokes" of the sugar camp. + +[Illustration: FIG. 77. FLOWERING BRANCH OF HYBRID WALNUT. + +_J. regia_ × _J. Californica_.] + +=Hybrids in California.=--Mrs. Ninetta Eames, writing, in the +_American Agriculturist_, of new varieties of walnuts in California, +refers to certain species and varieties growing in that State, as +follows: + + "On one of the avenues in Santa Rosa there are some dozen or so + ornamental shade trees, which invariably attract the passers. It + is not only that they are uncommonly beautiful, but that there + is something unfamiliar about them. One unhesitatingly + pronounces them 'walnuts,' from their unmistakable likeness to + both the English walnut and the native species found growing + along the streams of middle and southern California. They are, + in fact, a cross between the _Juglans regia_ and _J. + Californica_, the wild black walnut of this State. In its + appearance, this magnificent hybrid is nicely balanced between + both parents, but it is superior to either of them in beauty and + luxuriance of foliage, and in its phenomenal growth. There is, + indeed, but one tree, the eucalyptus, that grows more rapidly. + In speaking of this quality in the new walnut, Mr. Luther + Burbank says: 'It often excels the combined growth of both + parents, adding twelve to sixteen feet to its hight in one year. + Given like conditions, a budded six-year-old hybrid is twice as + large as a black walnut at twenty years of age.' + +[Illustration: FIG. 78. HYBRID WALNUT. _J. nigra_ × _J. +Californica_.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 79. HYBRID WALNUT, SHELL REMOVED. _J. nigra_ × +_J. Californica_.] + + "The clean cut, bright green leaves make a remarkable showing, + being all the way from two feet to a yard in length, and of + graceful, drooping habit (Fig. 77). They are sweet-scented, + too,--a delightful fragrance, resembling that of June apples. + Another admirable feature of this hybrid walnut is its smooth, + grayish bark, with white marblings not unlike the Eastern sugar + maple. The wood is compact, with lustrous, satiny grain, and + takes an elegant polish, which gives it unmistakable commercial + value. Like the majority of hybrids, though blossoming freely it + yields a scant crop of nuts, one or two annually on a single + tree, and this only after twelve years of persistent barrenness. + The seed, when planted, goes back to its parent + distinctiveness,--one-half turning out to be English walnuts and + the other half black walnuts,--the true hybrid being only + reproduced by grafting on a thrifty young _Juglans Californica_. + + "Another handsome novelty in shade trees, is a hybrid from the + _Juglans nigra_, or well-known Eastern black walnut, and _J. + Californica_ (Figs. 78 and 79). It makes a charming ornamental + tree, and bears, in its season, a prolific crop of unusually + large nuts, which have little value except in the eyes of school + children. Several of these hybrids are growing in Santa Rosa, + and present an interesting study to the pomologist. + +[Illustration: FIG. 80. JUGLANS SIEBOLDIANA RACEME.] + + "A still more unique species of the walnut genus is the _Juglans + Sieboldiana_, a Japanese walnut which grows abundantly in the + mountainous districts of the island of Yesso, and also in the + more southern divisions of the empire. Several of these + remarkable trees are to be found in the Kew gardens, but only + one specimen is said to be growing in America, and this has + recently come into profuse bearing on the Burbank experimental + farm, eight miles from Santa Rosa, California. According to good + authority, this Japanese walnut not only attains its greatest + perfection in this favored climate, but it thrives equally well + in countries too cold for the common walnut, _J. regia_. In its + wild state in Japan, the _Juglans Sieboldiana_ (whose curious + raceme of nuts is shown in Fig. 80) makes a wide-spreading tree + about fifty feet in hight, with pale, furrowed bark; nuts an + inch and a half long, with a diameter one-third less, and a + kernel having much the flavor of the common walnut. The tree + bearing so thriftily on California soil, suggests its possible + value as a marketable nut, while it already furnishes a + remarkable addition to horticultural interests." + +[Illustration: FIG. 81. BLACK WALNUT IN HUSK.] + +JUGLANS NIGRA, Linn. Black Walnut.--Leaflets eleven to seventeen, +rarely more; ovate-lanceolate, smooth above, moderately pubescent +beneath, pointed, somewhat heart-shaped at the base; leaf-stalks +slightly downy, usually of a pale purplish color early in the +season, especially on young trees; fruit large, mostly globose (Fig. +81); husk thin, roughly dotted; shell thick, hard, deeply and +unevenly corrugated with rough, sharp ridges and points (Fig. 82); +kernel large, sweet, but usually with a strong, rather rank taste, +but less oily than the butternut. Trees grow to an immense size, +with deeply furrowed bark; wood dark colored, valuable for cabinet +work, inside finishing, gun stocks, etc. Common in deep, rich soils, +from western Massachusetts west to southern Minnesota, and southward +to Florida. Most abundant west of the Alleghany mountains, and +especially in the rich valleys of the Western States distant from +railroads and water communication; elsewhere the trees have long +since been cut for their timber. I have only one synonym to record, +and this is scarcely worthy of notice, viz.: _Wallia nigra_. +(Alefeld in "Bonplandia," 1861.) + +[Illustration: FIG. 82. JUGLANS NIGRA, HUSK REMOVED.] + +=Varieties of the Black Walnut.=--As with the butternut, there are +no varieties of the black walnut in cultivation; at least, none +propagated by means which will insure the perpetuation of their +varietal characteristics. It is true that there are plenty of wild +varieties to be found, these varying widely in size and form, and +somewhat in thickness of their shell, as well as the ease with which +the kernels may be extracted, but none of these have been +perpetuated by artificial means. Among the earliest varieties +recognized by botanists, one was called Oblong Black Walnut, +_Juglans nigra oblonga_, by Miller, 1754, and perhaps in earlier +editions of the "Gardener's Dictionary." He says this is from +Virginia, and only a variety of the common black walnut. Marshall, +in 1785, describes this "black oblong fruited walnut," and adds: +"There are, perhaps, some other varieties." These oblong, or, more +correctly speaking, oval nuts, often sharp-pointed at both ends, are +rather plentiful at this time. There are rarely any considerable +number of bushels reaching market from Virginia and adjacent States, +among which these oval or oblong nuts cannot be found. I have a +number before me measuring from one inch to one and a quarter in +diameter, and from one and a half to nearly two inches in length. +Other varieties found, perhaps, in the same lot, are broader than +long, or one and seven-eighths inches broad, by one and one-half in +vertical diameter. These measurements are of the cleaned shell, +after the husks have been removed. + +For several years a "thin-shelled black walnut" has been offered by +at least two nurserymen, in whose catalogues they are described as +"with unusually thin shells, the kernels coming out whole." I have +endeavored to ascertain the origin of this variety, but failed, for +both of the nursery firms who advertised the frees for sale admit +that they do not know from whom they obtained the nuts planted, or +where the original tree is growing. As the trees offered are only +seedlings, there is no certainty that they will produce nuts with +"thin shells." We can safely drop this supposed variety from the +list until something definite is known about it. + +JUGLANS CALIFORNICA, Watson. California Walnut.--Leaflets in from +five to eight pairs, more or less downy, but sometimes smooth, +oblong-lanceolate, sharp-pointed, narrowing upward from near the +base, two to two and a half inches long. Male catkins much larger +than in our Eastern species, or from four to eight inches, often in +pairs. Fruit round, slightly compressed, three-fourths to one inch +and a quarter in diameter; husk thin, slightly dotted or roughened; +shell dark brown, very faintly sculptured (Fig. 83), almost smooth, +thick, the kernel filling two broad cavities upon each side; edible +and fairly good. A tree or large shrub in the vicinity of San +Francisco and along the Sacramento (where it is sometimes +cultivated), growing to the hight of forty to sixty feet, and two to +four feet in diameter; ranging southward to Santa Barbara, and +eastward through southern Arizona to New Mexico and Sonora (Thurber, +"Botany of California"). This species has been considered by some +botanists as only a variety of the next, or _Juglans rupestris_, +var. _Major_, Torrey. Scarcely hardy in the latitude of New York +city, except an occasional seedling from nuts gathered along the +northern limits of the species, or from the cooler elevated regions +of the Pacific slope. It is of no special value, only adding one +more edible nut tree to the list. + +[Illustration: FIG. 83. JUGLANS CALIFORNICA.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 84. JUGLANS RUPESTRIS, SHOWING SMALL KERNEL.] + +JUGLANS RUPESTRIS, Engelmann. Texas Walnut. New Mexico +Walnut.--Leaflets thirteen to twenty-five, smooth, bright green, +small, narrow, and long-pointed; male catkins short, or about two +inches long, and quite slender; fruit round or oblate; husk thin, +nearly smooth; nut small, one-half to three-fourths of an inch in +diameter; shell very thick, rather deeply furrowed, the narrow +grooves on the greater part continuous from base to apex, the broad +edges of the ridges smooth, not jagged as in the butternut and black +walnut. Kernel sweet and good, but so small (Fig. 84) as not to be +worth the trouble of extracting. A small and neat tree twenty to +forty feet high, native of the bottom lands of the Colorado in +Texas, and throughout the western part of the State, extending +through southern and central New Mexico to Arizona. In New Mexico it +reaches an elevation of seven or eight thousand feet, though the +climate is often severe, the temperature dropping to zero and below +during the winter. Seedlings raised from nuts obtained near the +northern limits of this species in Texas and New Mexico would +probably be hardy in most of the Northern States, but they are +scarcely worth cultivating for their nuts, owing to the small size +and thick shell; but as the trees are neat and graceful they are +worthy of a place among other useful and ornamental kinds. An +occasional bearing tree of this Texas walnut may be seen in the +gardens and parks of the Eastern States, and probably in some of the +Western, but I have no direct information in regard to their +locations or age. + +Synonyms: + + _Juglans rupestris_, Torrey. + _Juglans Californica_, Watson, Bot. California. + +=Oriental Walnuts.=--How few or many species of the walnut are +indigenous to China, Korea, Japan and other Oriental countries it +would be very difficult to determine, with our present limited +knowledge of the forests of that part of the world. The few +botanists who have had opportunities of studying the flora of those +regions do not agree as to names or number of species of the genus. +Loureiro, in his "Flora Cochinchinensis" (1788), names three species +as indigenous to China, viz.: _Juglans regia_ in the northern part, +but this is now considered very doubtful; _Juglans Camirium_, +Rhumphius, a medium-sized, heart-shaped nut, the trees found in the +forests, and also under cultivation; _Juglans Catappa_, a large +forest tree in the Cochin China mountains, with oblong, edible nuts, +with husk and shell of nuts of a reddish color. Many years later +Siebold describes a Japan walnut under the name of _Juglans +Japonica_, and still later the Russian botanist, Maxiomowicz, +renames this, in honor of Siebold, _Juglans Sieboldiana_, and +describes another native of Japan as _Juglans cordiformis_. But +prior to any of the authors named, Thunberg had described a Japan +walnut under the name of _Juglans nigra_, probably the same as +Loureiro's species, with reddish husk, but as this name had already +been given to an American species it had to be dropped. Maxiomowicz +also describes what he supposed to be a distinct species, found in +the forests of Mandshuria under the name of _J. Mandshurica_ (1872), +but it is doubtful if it is anything more than one of the many wild +forms of the species found widely distributed over eastern Asia. The +red or black fruited walnut of Loureiro (_J. Catappa_), and +Siebold's black walnut (_J. nigra_), are probably the same as the +Ailantus-leaved (_J. ailantifolia_), recently described in +Nicholson's "Dictionary of Gardening," London, Eng., 1884, the +origin of which is said to be uncertain. It is _Juglans +Mandshurica_, Maxim, in Alphonse Lavallée's "Catalogue of Arboretum +Segrezianum." As described in this work, the young fruit is +violet-red, and produced in long pendulous clusters, the latter +being one of the marked characteristics of these Oriental walnuts. +But whether we admit that there is but one or a dozen species of +these Eastern walnuts, it cannot be of any special interest to the +practical nut culturist, for to him their economic and commercial +value is of more importance than scientific nomenclature. + +Up to the present time we have only succeeded in obtaining two +species of these walnuts, or perhaps only one species and one +variety; but we certainly have two distinct forms, both coming from +Japan, and distributed under the names given them by Maxiomowicz, +viz.: + +JUGLANS SIEBOLDIANA (Siebold Walnut).--Leaflets sessile, usually +fifteen, five to seven inches long, oblong-pointed, thin, soft, +downy, serratures very shallow, pale green above and somewhat +lighter beneath; footstalks densely clothed with clammy hairs; fruit +in long pendulous clusters of a half dozen to a dozen, one and a +half inches or more long by a little more than one inch broad in the +middle; husk thin, downy or clammy; nut somewhat compressed, the +point usually bending to one side; shell smooth, with two shallow +grooves from base upward on the sides opposite to the sharp, +prominent ridges at the seams of the two lobes, the shell ending in +a strong, sharp point (Fig. 85). The shell is very hard and thick; +the kernel small, sweet, oily, resembling in taste our common +butternut; tree a rapid and stocky grower, the coarse shoots and +large leaves resembling those of the Ailantus tree at first, but +soon spreading branches appear, forming an open, roundish head. The +seedlings, as raised here, are abundantly supplied with small +fibrous roots, which insures transplanting with safety. Apparently +perfectly hardy in our Northern States, as I have heard no +complaints of winter-killing of the young trees, although they are +now widely distributed and in considerable numbers, but none, so far +as I have been able to learn, have reached a bearing age here in the +North. + +[Illustration: FIG. 85. JUGLANS SIEBOLDIANA.] + +Mr. P. C. Berckmans, of Augusta, Ga., in writing me under date of +Dec. 3, 1894, says: + + "Last year we fruited _Juglans Sieboldiana_ trees four years + from the seed. Fruit was produced in long clusters, and trees + exceedingly ornamental, but this year these same trees were + killed to the ground on the 26th of March, after they had set a + crop of fruit and made a young growth of more than twelve + inches. This untimely frost may not happen again in years, but + it goes to show that many varieties of trees which are + considered hardy further north, are sometimes destroyed here by + spring frosts." + +As these Japanese and Chinese walnuts are natives of cold climates +they may be better adapted to the Northern than Southern States, but +there is no locality entirely exempt from late spring frosts, as +most farmers and fruit growers learned to their cost the past +season. There can be little doubt of this species of walnut being +the one described by Rhumphius under the name of _J. Camirium_, and +more fully later by Loureiro, as already noted; but having come to +us from Japan as Siebold's walnut, this name will answer as well as +any other, even if it is not the proper one. + +[Illustration: FIG. 86. JUGLANS CORDIFORMIS.] + +JUGLANS CORDIFORMIS, Maxim.--In foliage and growth of tree this is +almost, if not absolutely, identical with the last; the difference +observed is in the nuts, which are also produced in pendulous +clusters. The form of the nut is almost round (Fig. 86), rather +blunt-pointed, but the shell is deeply and unevenly furrowed, and +indented somewhat like our black walnut; the ridges, however, are +not as sharp. The specimens I have received from various sources are +not as large as the Siebold, and the shell not quite as thick, but +the kernel is small. I may note here that there appears to be some +confusion in regard to this variety or species, for in several +nurserymen's catalogues this form of nut is figured as Siebold's, +and the one that I have described under that name is called +_Cordiformis_. The specimens received from California, Japan, and +also from Mr. Berckmans, correspond with the names here given, but +further investigations may show that they should be reversed. The +one I have received as _Cordiformis_ is, doubtless, the nut +described by Loureiro as _J. Catappa_, as an ovate-oblong nut, with +a fibrous, leathery, reddish husk. + +While I do not suppose that these Oriental walnuts will ever become +of any considerable commercial value, they are worth planting for +shade and ornamental trees. They are rather precocious, coming into +bearing at an early age, and the nuts are not only edible, but will +always be an acceptable addition to the unimportant although +agreeable household supplies. + +=Persian Walnuts.= _Juglans regia_, Linn. Royal Walnut, Madeira Nut, +English Walnut, French Walnut, Chile Walnut, etc.--Leaflets five to +nine, oval, smooth, pointed, slightly serrate; fruit round or +slightly oval; husk thin, green, of a leathery texture, becoming +brittle and cleaving from the nut when ripe and dry; nut +roundish-oval, smallest at the top; shell smooth, with slight +indentations, thin, two-valved, readily parting at the seams; kernel +large, wrinkled and corrugated, the two lobes separated below with a +thin, papery partition, but united at the top; sweet, oily, and +generally esteemed. + +[Illustration: FIG. 87. SMALL FRUITED WALNUT.] + +This species has been in cultivation many centuries, and in +different countries and climates, and under such variable conditions +that many of the varieties have departed widely from the normal +type. There are now an almost innumerable number of varieties, +varying greatly in size and form. Some are not larger than a +good-sized pea, as seen in the "Small Fruited Walnut" (Fig. 87), +while others are nearly as large as a man's fist, as in the +thick-shelled or "Gibbous Walnut" (Fig. 92), while in others the nut +is greatly elongated, as in the "Barthere Walnut" (Fig. 88), and +hundreds of other intermediate forms. There are also varieties that +bloom early in spring, others late. Some are very hardy, others +quite tender in cold climates. There are also dwarf and +tall-growing, as well as the precocious and tardy fruiting +varieties. But very few of these have ever been cultivated in our +Eastern States, consequently little is known of their value here; +but more may be in the near future, when our horticulturists and +farmers begin to plant nut trees as freely as they have other kinds, +or are awakened to the fact that such trees can be made a source of +pleasure and profit. + +Here in the Northern States our main dependence for hardy and +productive trees of this species will be upon seedlings or cions +from those acclimated specimens which have already been thoroughly +tested and found to be both hardy and prolific. There are plenty of +these, as I have stated elsewhere, and they are well worthy of +attention and multiplication until something better is produced or +discovered. In the meantime, the most promising European varieties +could be imported and tested, although it is not probable that those +originating in southern France and Italy would be of much value for +planting in the latitude of New York city or north of it, but south +of this line the chances of success would be somewhat greater; and +to escape injury from late spring frosts, the more elevated regions +are preferable to the lower and warmer anywhere in the Southern +States. In anticipation of the question being asked, I will say +that, at present, I do not know of any nurseryman in the Eastern +States who propagates or imports named varieties of walnuts for +sale. Of course, seedlings of these are offered, but it is well +known that there is but a remote chance of these coming true from +seed. Even the little dwarf French walnut _Præparturiens_, or Early +Prolific, cannot be depended upon to produce dwarf or early bearing +trees beyond the first generation from the nut, and these must be +the product of grafted trees, to insure this much. The following +list contains the names of only a few of the most noted varieties, +the greater part having originated in Europe. + +AILANTUS-LEAVED WALNUT. See Oriental walnuts. + +[Illustration: FIG. 88. BARTHERE WALNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 89. CHABERTE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 90. CHILE WALNUT.] + +BARTHERE WALNUTS. See Fig. 88.--A very long nut, pointed at both +ends. Shell thin; kernel large and of excellent flavor. Named after +M. Barthere, a horticulturist of Toulouse, France, who discovered it +growing among a number of other trees; consequently, its origin is a +mystery. M. Barthere says that it is very productive, and even the +seedlings of this variety begin to bear very early. + +CHABERTE.--An old standard French variety, of an oval shape; medium +size, with very full and rich flavored kernel (Fig. 89). The tree +buds and blooms late, therefore especially valuable in localities +where late spring frosts are likely to occur. + +CHILE WALNUT.--This name is given, in a general way, to all the +walnuts received in our markets from South America. The nuts are +usually of good size, with a dark grayish shell; thin but firm, with +plump kernels of excellent flavor. These nuts arrive in February and +March. Many of the Chile walnuts have three valves (Fig. 90), +instead of the normal two. Such freaks are occasionally found among +the European varieties, also in the native hickories, but these +tri-valved nuts appear to be very abundant among the Chile walnuts. + +CLUSTER WALNUT. RACEMOSA OR SPICATA.--Described by Mr. Gillet as a +variety of the Persian walnut, producing medium, thin-shelled nuts +in long clusters of from eight to twenty-eight. He also says that he +introduced it into this country, but from whence we are not +informed. Lavellée (1877) records it as a variety of _J. regia_, +under the name of _racemosa_, giving its synonym as _Juglans +Californica_ of the horticulturists. I have not found it mentioned +elsewhere. + +[Illustration: FIG. 91. CUT-LEAVED WALNUT.] + +CUT-LEAVED WALNUT.--A variety with deeply cut leaves; very +ornamental, as seen in Fig. 91. Nuts quite small, but of good +quality. + +FRANQUETTE.--Another old standard French variety, with large, +elongated-oval nuts with a distinct point. Shell thin; kernel large, +and of rich flavor. The tree blooms late; valuable for planting in +the South. + +GANT OR BIJOU WALNUT.--A remarkable variety on account of its +extraordinary size. The shell is thin, with rather deep furrows, +those of the largest size being made into ladies' companions, where +to stow away gloves or handkerchiefs, hence the name "Gant" walnut. +The kernel, though, does not correspond to the size of the shell +(Gillet). + +GIBBOUS WALNUT (Fig. 92).--This is a very large variety, supposed to +be a hybrid, raised in France many years ago. It is of little value, +as the shell is very thick and kernel small. Valuable mainly for its +immense size. + +[Illustration: FIG. 92. GIBBOUS WALNUT.] + +KAGHAZI.--This is supposed to be a variety of the Persian walnut, of +fair size, with a very thin shell. The tree blooms very late in +spring, and for this reason is recommended for localities where +there is danger from injury by frost. The tree is said to be a very +rapid grower, and much more hardy than the general run of varieties +of this species. I have been unable to learn its origin, but it has +been planted quite extensively in California, and some of our +Eastern nurserymen are offering the seedling trees for sale, but +whether they will possess the merits of the original or not must be +determined by experience. + +LARGE-FRUITED PRÆPARTURIENS.--A sub-variety of the Præparturiens, +originating with Mr. Felix Gillet of California. + +LATE PRÆPARTURIENS.--Also originated with Mr. Gillet. Valuable +because the trees bloom late in spring. Nuts described as of medium +size, but with full kernels of excellent quality. + +MAYETTE.--Very large (Fig. 93), with a light-colored shell of +moderate thickness. Kernel plump, readily extracted whole, as shown +in Fig. 94, sweet, and a rich, nutty flavor. Tree blooms late and is +very productive. An old and standard French variety. + +[Illustration: FIG. 93. MAYETTE.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 94. KERNEL OF WALNUT.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 95. J. REGIA OCTOGONA.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 96. CROSS SECTION.] + +MESANGE OR PAPER-SHELL.--This nut has the thinnest shell of any +variety known; it derives its name of Mesange from a little lark of +that name, that goes to the kernel through the tender shell. Tree +very productive, and the kernel quite rich in oil. We do not, +however, recommend the growing of this variety for market, on +account of the thinness of the shell, which breaks off too easily in +handling the nuts, or even when they drop on the ground (Felix +Gillet). + +MEYLAN WALNUT.--A French variety that originated near the little +village of Meylan, in the vicinity of which it is quite extensively +cultivated for home use and export. + +OCTOGONA.--Of uncertain origin, but very much resembles one of the +Oriental species in the form and sculpture of the shell (Fig. 95). +The shell is also very thick, as shown in the cross section (Fig. +96). Of no special value. + +PARISIENNE WALNUT.--Although this was named for the city of Paris it +did not originate there, but in the South of France. It is a large +and rather broad variety, with a firm but thin shell (Fig. 97) and +excellent flavored kernel. It is reported that this variety succeeds +in California, also in the South wherever tried. The trees leaf out +late in spring and are rarely injured by frosts, and are remarkably +productive. + +[Illustration: FIG. 97. PARISIENNE.] + +PRÆPARTURIENS. Precocious Dwarf Prolific.--A French variety of a +dwarf habit, and the plants noted for bearing when very young. A +correspondent of _The Garden_ (London, Eng.), referring to this +variety some years ago, says: + + "It is precocious on account of the singular and exceptional + fact that it is born almost an adult; in fact, it is nothing + uncommon to see a tree in its third year bearing excellent + fruit." + +He does not say, however, whether he refers to seedlings or grafted +plants, but we may presume the latter or those raised from layers, +for cultivators who have experimented with seedlings have found that +they possess a strong tendency to revert to the original or tree +form. This may not show itself very strongly in the first generation +if the nuts are obtained from grafted trees of some age, but in the +second and third generation the early-fruiting and dwarf are usually +entirely lost. The only certain way of securing the true variety is +by grafting or layering, but it is to be feared that very few trees +propagated by these modes are in cultivation, at least in the +Eastern States, although nurserymen have been offering Præparturiens +walnut trees in their catalogues during the past fifty years. In one +now before me, published in New York city in 1844, trees of this +walnut are offered at one dollar each, or about what is charged for +seedlings at the present time. As nothing is said in the catalogues +about the mode of propagation, we infer that they are seedlings, as +grafted trees would be worth more than one dollar. The nuts of this +dwarf walnut are of medium size, thin-shelled and of excellent +flavor; valuable for gardens of limited extent. + +SEROTINA. Late Walnut, St. John Walnut.--A very peculiar sort, +inasmuch as it is the latest of all to bud and bloom in spring, and +yet it pushes forward so rapidly that the nuts are ripe with others +in the fall. They are of medium size (Fig. 98), with a rather hard +shell, but the kernel is plump and good flavored. The tree is very +productive, and sure to escape late spring frosts. + +[Illustration: FIG. 98. SEROTINA OR ST. JOHN.] + +VILMORIN.--This is claimed to be a hybrid between some variety of +_J. regia_ and our native black walnut, _J. nigra_. Scarcely known +outside of France. + +VOUREY.--A new and splendid variety raised near Vourey, a small town +in southeast France. It has much the same shape and qualities of the +Parisienne walnut (Gillet). + +VARIEGATED WALNUT.--A handsome variety, with young branches covered +with dark-green bark spotted with gray, and often striped +longitudinally with yellow. The leaves resemble those of the common +walnut; the fruit is of a light yellowish-green streaked with darker +green, and reminds one closely of certain varieties of pears which, +in common with this variety, frequently have their young branches +striped in a similar manner. Propagated by grafting or layers. (_The +Garden._) + +WEEPING WALNUT.--A tree with pendulous twigs and branches. Quite +ornamental, but not especially valuable for its fruit. Hardy in +England. + +In addition to those described, there are a large number of +varieties, which may be worth importing and testing in this country, +by those who may feel inclined to make experiments with these nuts. +Probably some of those highly extolled by earlier writers are now +lost, but this cannot be determined until a careful search through +the old European gardens has been made. + +Among the early-fruiting or precocious varieties we find an account +of one raised by Anthony Carlisle, of England, as recorded in a +paper read at a meeting of the Horticultural Society of London, +March 3, 1812. Mr. Carlisle planted six nuts in March, 1802, these +having been received from Mr. Thomas Wedgewood of Blandford. Six +years later, or in 1808, one of the seedlings bore and matured ten +walnuts, and the next season (1809) upwards of fifty, and in 1810 +one hundred and twelve, the tree at that age being nineteen feet +seven and one-half inches high. Another variety, under the name of +Highflyer walnut, is described in the Transactions of the same +society, Vol. IV, 1822, p. 517. The nuts sent to the society were +grown in the town of Thetford, and are described as a long oval, +with a shell so very thin that the slightest pressure of the fingers +crushes it. I find that this Highflyer walnut is mentioned in the +recently published "Dictionary of Gardening," but whether obtainable +in English nurseries or not we are left in doubt. + +I refer to these English varieties mainly to show that some of the +very best and thinnest-shelled walnuts have been grown in cool +climates, and are not confined entirely to the warm or +semi-tropical, as many persons seem to suppose and even claim to be +the fact. It is principally from these English walnuts, as they are +usually termed, that our hardy old-bearing trees, referred to +elsewhere, have been produced, and, doubtless, many more will be, +when we begin to pay some attention to this very valuable nut. It is +also quite likely that when our horticulturists look about for +choice acclimated varieties for propagation, they will be found +right here in the grounds of next-door neighbors, and there may be +no necessity of sending to Europe or elsewhere for either nuts or +trees. + +At present there is much confusion and uncertainty in regard to the +identity and nomenclature of both species and varieties of the +walnut, and it must remain so until they are collected from all +countries and climes, of which they are either native or into which +they have been introduced, and when so collected, and fruiting +specimens produce, it will not be difficult to classify and +determine their synonyms. This will be an undertaking scarcely to be +expected of the individual nut culturist, but is within the +legitimate line of the arboretum, and of public botanical gardens +located in both cold and warm climates, thereby securing a division +of labor, and at the same time avoiding the uncertainty of trying to +produce practical results under uncongenial conditions and +surroundings. + +=Husking Walnuts.=--The husks of nearly all the varieties of the +Persian and Oriental walnuts part from their shells freely when +fully ripened and dried, but in a few varieties the husks are rather +persistent, requiring force and friction for their removal. This may +be accomplished by placing them in bags and shaking, or in barrels +and rolling, until the nuts are scraped clean. But the better way, +where there is any considerable quantity of nuts to be operated +upon, is to take a strong barrel or cask, and so arrange it on +standards that it can be rapidly revolved with a crank attached to +one end. Of course, the cask must have its two heads left in place, +and an opening made in the side to admit the nuts and remove them +when cleaned. Almost any man handy with tools can make such a +cleaner and polisher in a few hours, and if stored in a dry place it +will last for several years. With butternuts and black walnuts the +husks are much tougher, and they should be thrown into heaps in the +open air, and turned over occasionally until the husks become +softened sufficiently to permit of their removal, in case they are +to be sent to market. Ordinary threshing machines may be used for +cleaning the husks from black walnuts, by removing about one-half +the teeth, or enough to allow the nuts to pass through without +breaking their shells. + +Most of the hickories drop from the husk, leaving the nut clean; but +in some varieties of the pecan the inner part of the husk adheres +rather tenaciously, and they sell better if cleaned; besides, some +have rather rough and thick shells, and a little scraping and +polishing adds much to their appearance. The revolving cask, either +worked by hand or other power, is an excellent implement for +preparing these nuts for market, and if the husk is very persistent, +a little dry sand thrown in will aid in cleaning and polishing. +Sometimes these nuts are subjected to what is called the soapstone +polish, leaving the shells very smooth, with a greasy feel. The +French walnuts, which are extensively imported under the general +name of Grenoble walnuts, are usually bleached with sulphur before +they are shipped, and while this adds nothing to the quality of the +kernel, the sulphur is an excellent insecticide and fungicide, and +may be of some use on that account; but otherwise it is likely to be +more injurious than beneficial. As bleaching both walnuts and +almonds is often insisted upon by dealers, I give the process +suggested by Director Hilgard, of the California Agricultural +Experiment Station, which he believes will prove more satisfactory +than the one usually employed, and is as follows: + + "The nuts, placed in small baskets (such as the Chinese use for + carrying), are dipped for about five minutes in a solution + containing to every fifty gallons of water six pounds of + bleaching powder and twelve pounds of sal soda. They are then + rinsed with a hose, and after draining, again dipped into + another solution containing one per cent of bisulphite of lime; + after the nuts have assumed the desired tint, they are again + rinsed with water and then dried. Instead of the second dipping, + the nuts may be sulphured (fumigated) for ten or fifteen + minutes. The cost of fifty gallons of chlorine dip will be about + forty cents; the same bulk of the bisulphite dip, probably + considerably less. The time occupied in handling one batch (two + dips) is from twelve to fifteen minutes." + +[Illustration: FIG. 99. THE CATERPILLAR.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 100. THE REGAL WALNUT MOTH--CITHERONIA REGALIS.] + +=Insect Enemies.=--The walnut is attacked by the same kinds of +insects that infest the hickories, with, perhaps, a few exceptions; +as, for instance, the bark beetles and the nut weevils. The leaves +appear to be more or less acceptable food for the caterpillars that +feed on the hickories, and the same insecticides and means employed +for destroying these pests on one will answer for the other. + +The caterpillars of some of the smaller kinds of moths are, as a +rule, far more destructive to the leaves than the larger, and their +ravages often escape notice until it is too late for the use of +preventives, or for their destruction with insecticides. + +Ever since I became connected with the New York city press, some +thirty odd years ago, scarcely a season has passed during which one +or more specimens of the Regal walnut caterpillar (_Citheronia +regalis_), shown in Fig. 99, have not been received from some +correspondent who had found them crawling down the stem or on the +ground near a walnut tree. Such a large caterpillar would naturally +attract the attention of almost any person, but to the timid its +appearance is exceedingly ferocious and repulsive, while to the +entomologist it is a beautiful and interesting creature, and far +more likely to be handled with care than injured. This caterpillar +is of a green color, and transversely banded across each of the +rings with pale blue. The head and legs are of an orange color, also +the long spine or horns, with the points tipped with black. It is +certainly very formidable in appearance, but perfectly harmless, and +may be handled with impunity. The parent moth (Fig. 100) has fore +wings of an olive color, ornamented with small yellow spots and +veined with red lines. The hind wings are orange-red, with two large +irregular yellow patches before, and a row of wedge-shaped olive +colored spots between the veins behind. Although this insect appears +to be widely distributed over the country, and the caterpillars feed +on the walnuts and occasionally on the hickory, it has never been +known to be sufficiently numerous to attract any special attention. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MISCELLANEOUS NUTS--EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE. + +In the following list of plants there are a few that in no way can +be considered as related to the true nut-bearing trees and shrubs; +but as the word "nut" has been attached as a prefix or affix in +commerce, or elsewhere, they are admitted, even if for no other +purpose than to designate their true position in the vegetable +kingdom. For convenience, they are recorded in alphabetical order, +the most familiar of the common names--where there are more than +one--being given precedence, the botanical or scientific following, +with a brief description, as my limited space will not permit of +anything more extended. + +It is not claimed that this catalogue of nuts is complete, but it is +probably as near it as any heretofore compiled and published, and it +may serve as the basis for a better and more extended one at some +future time. + +ACORN, OR OAK NUT.--The fruit of the oak, Quercus (_Cupuliferæ_), +monœcious, evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, with alternate +and simple straight-veined leaves. A very large genus, of about two +hundred and fifty species, mainly in the temperate region of the +northern hemisphere. There are some forty species native of the +United States. The nuts are, on the whole, rather too harsh and +bitter flavored to be esteemed or considered edible by civilized +nations at the present day, but in former times some of the oak nuts +were often an important article among the garnered food of the +household. They were used--and are still, in some countries--boiled, +roasted, and even ground and made into bread and cakes. They have +also been used as a substitute for coffee, and for malt in making +beer. Strabo says that in the mountains of Spain the inhabitants +ground their acorns into meal, and Pliny affirms that in his time +acorns were brought to the table with the dessert, in Spain. Every +student of English history is well aware of the importance of the +acorn, not only as food for man, in Great Britain, in the time of +the Druids, and later, but also for feeding swine, deer, and other +wild and domesticated animals. But with the advance of civilization +and the production of better food, the oak nut ceased to be classed +among the important culinary supplies. There are, however, a few +species of the oak yielding nuts fairly edible in their raw state, +and these are much improved by roasting. The best of those among our +native species are to be found in the varieties of the white oaks of +the North, and in the evergreen (_Quercus virens_) of the Southern +States. But with so many far superior species of edible nuts, it is +very doubtful if any of the oaks will ever be cultivated for their +fruit. + +AUSTRALIAN CHESTNUT.--The seeds of a large tree, native of +Australia, the _Castanospermum australe_, the name of the genus +being derived from _Kastanon_, chestnut, and _sperma_, a seed, +because the seeds resemble, in size and taste, the common chestnut. +But the tree belongs to the bean family (_Leguminosæ_), and the +seeds are produced in large, long pods. They are about an inch and a +half broad, somewhat flattened, and of the color of a chestnut when +ripe. They are roasted and eaten by the natives, but are rather +unpalatable to those who have been accustomed to something better in +the way of edible nuts. These seeds are also known as "Moreton Bay +chestnuts." + +AUSTRALIAN HAZELNUT.--The fruit of _Macadamia ternifolia_ +(_Proteaceæ_). There are two species, both evergreen trees or tall +shrubs confined to eastern Australia. The fruit is a kind of drupe +with a fleshy exterior, enclosing a hard shelled nut, not unlike a +small walnut. The kernel, when mature, has a rich and agreeable +flavor, much like but richer than the hazelnut, hence one of its +local names, for it is also known as "Queensland nut." This nut tree +would probably thrive in southern Florida, and in the warmer parts +of California. + +BEN NUT.--Fruit of _Moringa aptera_ (_Moringeæ_). Small, unarmed +trees; only three species in the order, these inhabiting tropical +Asia, northern Africa and the West Indies. The one producing the ben +nuts grows from fifteen to twenty feet high, and is found in upper +Egypt, Syria and Arabia. The seeds,--or nuts, as they are +called,--are produced in capsules or seed-pods about a foot long, +and while not edible, an oil is expressed from them which is largely +used in the manufacture of perfumery, and known in commerce as ben +oil. Another species, the _M. pterygosperma_, or winged-seeded +Moringa, is known as the horse-radish tree, the bark of the roots +being used as a substitute for horse-radish. + +BETEL NUT OR PINANG.--The fruit of a lofty palm, _Areca Catechu_ +(_Palmaceæ_). A native of Cochin China, the Malayan Peninsula, and +adjacent islands. A slender-stemmed palm, with regular pinnate +leaves and long, narrow leaflets. The fruit is produced on an erect, +fleshy spike, each fruit about the size of a hen's egg, with a +thick, fibrous rind or husk, enclosing a hard nut somewhat like an +ordinary nutmeg. These are used by being cut into small pieces or +slices, then rolled up in a leaf of the betel pepper (_Piper +betel_), a little lime sprinkled over it, and then chewed or held in +the mouth, as practiced by those who use tobacco for chewing. This +habit of chewing the betel nut is said to be almost universal among +the Malayan races, all carrying a box containing the nut leaf and +lime. These nuts are shipped in large quantities to countries where +they do not grow, and the habit of chewing them has spread +enormously, of late years, and is likely to increase, as it has with +tobacco; and the effect upon the users is said to be very similar, +although some authorities claim that the betel is the most injurious +of the two, having a far more deleterious effect upon the teeth and +gums. But this may be due to the use of the lime. Travelers in +countries where these nuts are in common use tell wonderful tales +about the invigorating effects of the betel, and how their +assistants and followers are enabled, by its use, to perform the +most exhausting labor for days at a time, which, without it, would +be impossible. We have no doubt that the users of tobacco will claim +just as much for this narcotic weed, and probably could produce as +many trustworthy witnesses in support of it. The betel is, like +tobacco, a narcotic stimulant, and causes giddiness in persons +unaccustomed to it, excoriates the mouth, and is so burning that +Western nations will be slow to adopt this Eastern habit. + +BLADDER NUT.--A rather inappropriate name for the seed pods and +small seeds of one of our common large deciduous shrubs, the +_Staphylea trifolia_. It is sometimes planted for ornament. The +small white flowers are produced in hanging racemes, succeeded by +large bladdery pods, hence its common name. + +BRAZIL NUT.--The fruit of _Bertholletia excelsa_, a lofty tree of +the myrtle family (_Myrtaceæ_). The tree attains a height of from +one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, with stems three to four +feet in diameter. The leaves are broad, smooth, and about two feet +long, rather thick, and of the texture of leather. The fruit is +produced mainly on the uppermost branches, and is globular, four to +six inches in diameter, with a brittle husk on the outside, and +within this a hard, tough, woody shell, fully one-half inch thick, +containing a large number of the closely packed, three-sided, rough +nuts, about an inch and a half to two inches or over in length, as +seen in Fig. 101. The kernels are very white, solid and oily. When +mature the fruit falls entire, and the natives of the country +collect them, splitting the shells to obtain the nuts. An occasional +entire fruit is sent to other countries, as a curiosity, or for the +cabinet of some botanist. The Brazil nut is not only indigenous to +Brazil, but also of Guiana, Venezuela (forming immense forests on +the Orinoco, where they are called Juvia), and southward on the Rio +Negra and in the valley of the Amazon. In fact, the supply appears +to be inexhaustible; the only difficulty is in getting the nuts from +the forests to some point where they can be shipped out of the +country. The principal export is from Para, but there are many +smaller cities and towns where a load of these nuts may be obtained +on short notice. A very superior oil may be obtained from the nuts, +by pressure, but the principal use for them is for desserts and +confectionery. They are always abundant in our city markets. + +[Illustration: FIG. 101. BRAZIL NUT.] + +BREAD NUT.--The fruit of a large tree, the _Brosimum Alicastrum_, of +the bread fruit family (_Artocarpaceæ_), native of the West Indies, +but best known in Jamaica. The botanical authorities disagree in +regard to this species, some claiming that it is a large tree, with +wood similar to mahogany; others that it is only a small shrub, only +five or six feet high. It has lance-shaped leaves, male and female +flowers in globular heads, and usually on separate trees. The fruit +is about the size of a plum, containing one seed or nut, which is +only edible after roasting. + +BUFFALO NUT.--See Oil nut. + +BUTTERNUT.--See Souari nut. + +BYZANTIUM NUT.--See Filberts, Chap. VI. + +CANDLE NUTS.--A small evergreen tree, the _Aleurites triloba_ of the +spurgewort family (_Euphorbiaceæ_). It is a native of most warm +countries of the East: India, Malay, southern Japan, and nearly all +the islands of the Pacific ocean, and in some of these it is +cultivated for the fruit, which is about two inches in diameter. In +the center there is a hard nut, very oily, with the flavor of the +walnut. The oil obtained from these nuts is in common use among the +natives of the Polynesian islands. In the Hawaiian group the kernels +are strung on a small, dry stick, which serves the purpose of a +wick, and then one end lighted, as with an ordinary tallow or wax +candle, hence probably the common name of candle nut. These nuts are +said to be used in the same way in India. Large quantities of oil is +also expressed from them and used for various purposes, and +occasionally small quantities are exported to European countries. + +CAPE CHESTNUT.--The name of a beautiful evergreen ornamental tree, +native of south Africa, and recently introduced into European +gardens from the Cape of Good Hope, hence its common, and its +specific scientific name, _Calodendron capense_. It belongs to the +Rue family (_Rutaceæ_). The flowers are red, produced in long +terminal racemes, the tree growing about forty feet high, and said +to be one of the finest trees of that part of Africa. It is now +under trial in Florida. Why called a chestnut I have been unable to +discover. + +[Illustration: FIG. 102. THE CASHEW NUT.] + +CASHEW NUT.--A large shrub or small tree, native of the West Indies, +and for this reason often referred to as the "Western Cashew," or +_Anacardium occidentale_. It belongs to the Terebinth family +(_Anacardium_), consequently is closely related to our native poison +sumachs (_Rhus_). The tree is an evergreen, with entire +feather-veined leaves; flowers of a reddish color, very small, +sweet-scented, and produced in terminal panicles. The fruit is +kidney-shaped, and borne on a fleshy receptacle, and when ripe of +reddish or yellow color. The nut proper is enclosed in a leathery +covering, consisting of two layers, between which is deposited a +thick, caustic, oily substance, exceedingly acrid; but this is +eliminated by heat, so that when the kernels are roasted they have a +pleasant flavor and are highly esteemed for dessert. Some care is +required in roasting these nuts, as the fumes given off during this +operation cause inflammation of the eyes. The nuts also yield an +excellent oil, very similar to the best olive oil. Although +originally found only in the West Indies, this nut is now widely +distributed throughout the tropical countries of the East; in fact, +naturalized in all hot climates, and is also under trial in southern +Florida. + +CAUCASIAN WALNUT. WINGED WALNUT.--The winged fruit of _Pterocarya +fraxinifolia_, also known as _P. Caucasica_ of nurserymen's +catalogues. It belongs to the walnut family (_Juglandaceæ_), and is +a tree growing thirty to forty feet high, somewhat resembling the +common ash (_Fraxinus_). It is a pretty, hardy, ornamental tree, +thriving only in moist soils. Seeds on winged nuts produced in long, +drooping racemes, but of no special value. Introduced into England +from Caucasus in 1800, and now plentiful here in nurseries. + +CHESTNUT.--See Chapter V; also Horse-chestnut, and Moreton Bay, +Tahiti and Water chestnuts. + +CHOCOLATE NUT OR BEAN.--The seeds of a small tropical tree, +_Theobroma Cacao_, of the chocolate nut family (_Sterculiaceæ_). +Indigenous to tropical America, but now cultivated more or less +extensively in all hot climates. The tree grows from fifteen to +twenty feet high, with long, pointed, smooth leaves. The flowers are +small, yellow, and produced from the old wood of both stems and +branches, succeeded by a pod-like fruit six to ten or more inches +long, containing fifty to a hundred seeds, resembling beans more +than they do nuts. When the fruit is ripe it is gathered, at which +time the seeds are covered with a gum-like substance, and to remove +this they are subjected to a slight fermentation, after which they +are dried in the sun, this giving them their usual brown color. +Chocolate nut trees are extensively cultivated in Brazil, New +Grenada, Trinidad, and, in fact, throughout tropical America, and +their cultivation is, upon the whole, very profitable, as the demand +is almost unlimited. + +CLEARING NUT.--This is an East India name for the seeds of +_Strychnos potatorum_, a plant belonging to the well-known nux +vomica family (_Loganiaceæ_). It is a small tree, native of India, +the wood of which is used for various purposes. The fruit is about +the size of a cherry, and contains one seed; this is dried, and used +for clearing muddy water, this being effected by rubbing one of the +little nuts around the sides of the vessel that is to be filled, +after which the water is poured in, and then, through some unknown +agency, all the foreign matter settles, leaving the liquid perfectly +pure, clear and wholesome. + +COCOANUT.--One of the most widely-known and largest of edible nuts; +the product of _Cocos nucifera_, a lofty, tree-like palm (_Palmæ_ or +_Palmaceæ_). It is a native of tropical Africa, India, Malay, and of +nearly all the islands of the Indian and Pacific oceans. It only +thrives near the seacoast or where the sea breezes reach it, +requiring no special care after the nuts and young plants once +become established in a congenial soil. The coco palm grows from +fifty to one hundred feet high, with pinnate leaves from ten to +twenty feet long. The nuts are produced in clusters of a dozen or +more, and when full grown are somewhat triangular and a foot long, +the outer coat or husk composed of a tough fiber. The nuts, when +cleaned of their husks, are too well known to call for a further +description here. In countries where these nuts are plentiful, their +contents form nearly the entire food of the natives, the milky fluid +serving for drink, and the more solid parts as a substitute for meat +and bread. The cocoa-nut utilized in more ways, and for a greater +variety of purposes, than any other kind known, and it would require +a volume to briefly enumerate them. Of recent years there have been +plantations made of this nut on the coast of southern Florida, and +one of the most extensive of these is by a man from New Jersey, but +I have not heard from him of late, or seen any reports as to the +results of his experiments. It is reported that there are about +250,000 cocoa-nut trees now growing in Florida. + +COCOANUT, DOUBLE.--This is the fruit of another lofty palm, +_Lodoicea Sechellarum_, and is usually considered the largest member +of the order. It is a native of the Seychelles islands, in the +Indian ocean. It is said to reach a hight of a hundred feet, with a +stem two feet in diameter. The fruit is a large, oblong nut, with a +rather thin rind or husk, and when this is removed the nut appears +to be double, or two oblong nuts firmly united, a kind of twin +formation, the entire nut weighing from thirty to forty pounds. +These immense nuts are produced in bunches of eight to ten, the +cluster sometimes weighing from three to four hundred pounds. It is +supposed that these nuts require about ten years to grow and mature. +They are useless as food, but the shells are manufactured into +various useful articles by the natives, and they are also +transported to other countries and valued as curiosities. There is a +great demand for the leaves of this palm for making hats, baskets, +etc., and as the trees have to be cut down to obtain them, they are +becoming rather scarce. + +COLA NUT, KOLA NUT OR GOORA NUT.--The fruit of a small tree, native +of the warmer parts of western Africa, and known to botanists as +_Cola acuminata_, and of the Sterculiad family (_Sterculiaceæ_). In +its native country it grows thirty to forty feet high. The leaves +are oblong-elliptical, six to eight inches long, and pointed +(acuminate), and from this it probably derived its specific name. +The flowers are yellow, and produced in axillary racemes, and +succeeded by simple bean-like pods, each containing several nut-like +seeds, which the natives call cola or goora nuts. These nuts have +long been an article of trade among the native tribes of Africa, +they being valued for their supposed efficacy in allaying thirst, +promoting digestion, giving strength, and preventing exhaustion +during the performance of hard manual labor. This tree was early +introduced into the West Indies and Brazil, but its reputation in +Africa does not appear to have been sustained it its Western +habitat. + +COQUILLA NUT.--The fruit of the Piassaba palm, _Attalea funifera_, a +native of Brazil, where it grows about thirty feet high. The fruit +is produced in bunches, and are each about three inches long, +covered with a thin rind. The nut is very hard, and is used as a +substitute for bone and ivory in the manufacture of articles for the +household. + +COQUITO NUT.--This is the fruit of the wing-leaved palm of Chile, +JUBÆA SPECTABILIS. It is a moderately tall species, and closely +resembles, in general habit, the date palm. The nuts are edible, but +they are of secondary importance, this palm being valued mainly for +the sweet sap issuing from the stem when cut down, this continuing +to exude from it for weeks after it is severed from the roots. The +sap is gathered and boiled, and when reduced to the consistency of +molasses becomes an article of commerce, under the name of Meil de +Palma or palm honey. + +CREAM NUT.--A local name of Brazil nut. + +DAWA NUT.--See Litchi nut. + +EARTH NUT, OR EARTH CHESTNUT, ETC.--A small, low-growing, herbaceous +plant of the carrot family (_Umbelliferæ_), common in waste or +uncultivated grounds in Great Britain and other countries of +northern Europe. Formerly botanists supposed there were two species, +but of late only one, the _Bunium bulbocastanum_. On the roots there +are small, nut-like tubers, of a sweetish taste, and they are eaten +by children, either in the raw state or after being roasted. These +tubers have various local names, and in addition to the above, they +are called kipper nuts, and pig nuts in England, but a familiar +local name in Scotland is lousy nuts, because it is said that eating +them is sure to breed lice. But this story may have been invented by +parents to deter their children from digging and eating the roots of +wild plants. Willdenow, in naming this species, certainly recognized +its edible qualities, and that children were fond of it, else he +would not have called it an earth chestnut,--_bulbo_, bulb, and +_castanum_ from _castanea_, the chestnut. + +ELK NUT.--See Oil nut. + +FISTICKE NUT.--See Pistacia nut. + +FOX NUT.--The seeds of a floating, annual aquatic plant, the +_Euryale ferox_, native of India, and belonging to the water lily +family (_Nymphæaceæ_). It is a handsome plant, with leaves about two +feet in diameter, of a rich purple on the underside, with thorn-like +spines on the veins. Flowers deep violet-red. The seeds of this +species are eaten by the natives, the same as the aborigines of this +country gathered the seeds of our indigenous _Nelumbium luteum_, +under the name of water chinquapin, using them for food in the late +fall and winter. + +GINKGO NUT.--The large, round, white, somewhat flattened, nut-like +seeds of the now common maidenhair tree, or _Ginkgo biloba_, also +known as _Salisburia adiantifolia_ of some nurserymen's catalogues +and many recent botanical works. The former, however, is the older +and correct scientific name. This tree is a native of China and +Japan, and of a slender, sparsely branched habit, growing from fifty +to eighty feet high in its native countries. It is a deciduous, +cone-bearing (_Coniferæ_) tree, with two-lobed, fan-shaped leaves +two to three inches broad, divided about halfway down from the top. +The male and female flowers are on separate trees, and to secure +seed or nuts both sexes must be grown near together. The ginkgo was +introduced into European gardens in 1754, and there are now many +fruiting specimens, especially in France, from whence the nuts have +long been secured for planting, by nurserymen and others interested +in tree culture. There are very few bearing trees in this country, +and one in Washington, D. C., has been fruiting for a number of +years. In China and Japan the seeds or nuts are valued for their +edible qualities, but they have a kind of disagreeable, balsamic +taste in their raw state, although this is dispelled by roasting, +after which they are quite sweet and palatable. As the trees do not +begin to bear until of considerable age, and the nuts are inferior +to many other kinds, I do not think the ginkgo will ever become very +popular in this country as a nut tree. + +GOORA NUT.--See Cola nut. + +GORGON NUT.--See Fox nut. + +GROUNDNUT.--The small, globular tubers of the dwarf three-leaved +ginseng, _Aralia trifolia_, are called groundnuts in some of our +Northern States, and they are frequently sought for, dug up and +eaten by children, as I know from personal experience. The plant +belongs to the ginseng family (_Araliaceæ_), and is closely related +to the true five-leaved ginseng (_Aralia quinquefolia_), but our +groundnut has only three leaves, instead of five; besides, it is a +somewhat smaller plant, rarely more than six to eight inches high. +When the scattered seed sprout in spring, they send down a long, +slender, thread-like rootstock, to a depth of from four to six +inches, and at the bottom of this the small tuber is produced. It +has a somewhat pungent taste, but this only whets the appetite of a +boy when on a hunt for ground nuts. + +GROUNDNUT.--The tubers of one of the most widely distributed +climbing plants of the Eastern States, and common in low, wet +grounds almost everywhere, from Canada to Florida, and westward to +the Mississippi. This plant is described in most of the botanical +works of the present day under the name of _Apios tuberosa_, and it +belongs to the Pulse family (_Leguminosæ_), and is closely related +to the common and well-known wistarias, although much smaller and of +a more slender habit. It is a smooth, perennial, twining vine, with +pinnate leaves, and dense racemes or clusters of small +brownish-purple pea-shaped flowers. The subterranean rootstocks bear +long strings of edible tubers, from one to two inches long, and from +an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, somewhat variable in +shape, dark brown on the outside, but white within. When boiled or +roasted these tubers have a rich, farinaceous, nutty flavor. This +tuber or groundnut is the one described by Mr. Thomas Herriot, the +historiographer of Sir Walter Raleigh's expedition to Virginia in +1585, under the Indian name of "Openawk." He says: "These roots are +round, some as large as walnuts, others much larger; they grow in +damp soil, many hanging together, as fixed on ropes; they are good +food, either boiled or roasted." These tubers are to be found in the +swamps and damp soils of Virginia at this day, just as they were at +the time of Herriot's visit, but many modern historians have tried +to make out that Raleigh's colonists found our common potato among +the Indians at that time, although I have never been able to find a +scrap of trustworthy history to support such a claim, or that +Raleigh himself ever planted or cultivated the American potato in +Ireland or England, or, in fact, ever tasted one of these tubers. + +GROUNDNUT.--See Peanut or Goober. + +HAZELNUT, OR CHILE HAZEL.--This is merely a local English name for +the fruit of a small evergreen tree, native of Chile, S. A., where +it is known as Guevina, and this has been adopted as the name of the +genus, adding the specific name of the European hazel, so we have +_Guevina Avellana_, although in some botanical works it may be found +under the name of _Qudria heterophylla_. It belongs to the Protea +family (_Proteaceæ_). It has white, hermaphrodite flowers, in long +axillary racemes; these are succeeded by coral-red fruit about the +size of a large cherry; the stone or nut-like seeds being edible are +largely used by the Chileans. They are said to taste like the hazel, +hence the name. Trees are hardy in the southwest of England, and +would probably succeed here in the Southern States. It has been +planted and found to thrive in California. Readily propagated from +seed or green cuttings under glass. + +HORSE-CHESTNUT.--The fruit of a genus of deciduous ornamental trees +and shrubs, native of Asia and North America. The common +horse-chestnut, or _Æsculus Hippocastanum_, is a native of Asia, and +was introduced into Europe over three hundred years ago, its large, +smooth seeds and prickly husks probably suggesting both its common +and scientific names, although these trees do not even belong to the +same order as the true edible chestnuts (_Castanea_), but to the +soapworts (_Sapindaceæ_). It is supposed that the prefix, "horse," +was derived from a custom among the Turks, of giving the nuts to +horses as a medicine when these animals were afflicted with a cough +or inclined to become wind-broken. In southern Europe they are +sometimes fed to cows to increase the flow of milk, and at one time +they were employed for making paste for book binders. They are +scarcely edible, although containing considerable farinaceous +matter, owing to the presence of a bitter narcotic principle. Our +native species, better known as Buckeyes, with both smooth and +prickly fruit, are equally worthless as food. + +IVORY NUT.--There are two species of palms producing nuts hard +enough to be employed as a substitute for ivory, in the manufacture +of small articles of domestic use. But the one best known to +commerce under the name of ivory nut is the fruit of _Phytelephas +macrocarpa_, native of New Granada and other parts of Central +America. This palm is a low-growing and almost decumbent species, +the stem seldom more than six to eight inches in diameter; but the +leaves are of immense length, or from fifteen to twenty feet, +growing in bundles, or clusters. The fruit consists of about forty +nuts, enclosed in a rough, spiny husk, of a globular form, produced +on a short footstalk growing from the axis of the leaves, the whole +bunch weighing from twenty to thirty pounds. They are two inches +long, slightly triangular, and covered with a thin, pulpy coat, +which becomes dry, papery and brittle when thoroughly dried, but +when in its green state it is sometimes utilized by the natives for +making a favorite beverage. The ripe nuts are very solid, hard, and +when polished resemble ivory. Immense quantities of these nuts are +imported into this country, as well as Europe, and used as a +substitute for bone and ivory for making buttons, toys, and similar +small articles. + +JESUIT CHESTNUT.--See Water chestnut. + +JICARA NUT.--A local name, in some of the Central American States +for the Calabash (_Crescentia Cujete_). A low-growing, rather rough +tree, with simple leaves, usually three growing together on a broad +leafstalk. The fruit is extremely variable, both in size and form, +but mainly globose, and two to four inches in diameter. The shell is +very hard, and largely used for drinking cups, and these are +sometimes highly ornamented on the outside. The kernel is scarcely +edible, but is used by the natives as a medicine. + +JUBA NUT.--See Coquito nut. + +JUVIA NUT.--See Brazil nut. + +KIPPER NUT.--See Earth chestnut. + +[Illustration: FIG. 103. LITCHI OR LEECHEE NUT.] + +LITCHI NUT OR LEECHEE NUT.--I am inclined to think that the affix of +"nut" to this Oriental fruit is an Americanism, and not used +elsewhere. There are three distinct species of this fruit known +among the Chinese, under the name of Litchi, Longan or Long-yen, and +Rambutan, all the product of the Nepheliums, a genus of the +soapberry family (_Sapindaceæ_). By some of the earlier botanical +works the litchi is placed either in the genus _Dimocarpus_ or +_Euphoria_. Within the past few years this fruit has appeared in our +markets, in consequence of the increased trade with Oriental +countries, and facilities for rapid transit across the continent. +The litchi is a globular fruit, about one inch in diameter (Fig. +103), with a thin, chocolate-brown colored shell covered with +wart-like protuberances. When fresh the shell is filled with a +white, jelly-like pulp, in the center of which there is one rather +large, smooth brown seed. The pulp is of a most delicious sub-acid +flavor, but it is often rather dry and stale in the nuts which reach +us from China and Japan. The tree producing this fruit is seldom +more than twenty-five feet high, with rather sturdy twigs and +branches, the leaves composed of about seven oblong pointed +leaflets. This is said to be one of the most popular of Oriental +fruits, and the trees would probably succeed in many of the Southern +States and in California. It is now on trial in Florida, having been +introduced there in 1886. It has been fruited in England many times, +but always under glass, where the plants receive protection and +artificial heat. A full description of this species, accompanied by +a superb colored plate of the _Nephelium_ or _Dimocarpus Longana_, +appeared in the "Transactions of the London Horticultural Society," +1818, p. 402. There are not only a large number of species of the +Nepheliums bearing edible fruit, but, as might be expected from +their long and extensive cultivation, many local varieties, +especially in the southern provinces of China and throughout the +islands of tropical Asia. The Dawa of the Fiji islands is the fruit +of _N. pinnatum_, a tree growing sixty feet high, and forming +extensive forests on those islands. At some future time we may be +receiving the dawas under the name of Fiji nuts. + +LOUSY NUT.--See Earth chestnut. + +MARKING NUT.--The seeds of _Semecarpus Anacardium_, an evergreen +tree of the cashew-nut family (_Anacardiaceæ_), native of tropical +Asia, and especially Ceylon. It has large, oblong leaves, and grows +about fifty feet high, and the fruit is produced on a fleshy +receptacle. The natives roast and eat these nuts, and the black +juice obtained from the green fruit is used for marking cloth, hence +the common name. The juice is also mixed with lime to make an +excellent indelible ink, also for a kind of varnish. + +MIRITI NUT OR ITA PALM NUT.--These are the Indian names of the fruit +of a lofty palm tree, the _Mauritia flexuosa_, of the swamps along +the Orinoco river, also in wet soils at higher elevations. This +giant palm grows to a hight of a hundred and fifty feet, with an +immense crown of large, fan-shaped leaves, and just beneath these +the fruit appears in a pendulous cluster eight to ten feet long, +containing several bushels, weighing, altogether, from one to three +hundred pounds. The individual nuts are about the size of an +ordinary apple, with a very smooth shell, somewhat veined or +streaked. The natives of the country not only use the farinaceous +kernels of these nuts as food, but obtain a saccharine material from +the pith, out of which they make wine by fermentation. The petioles +of the leaves also furnish them with a strong fiber, used as +thread-cord, and for various other purposes. + +MORETON BAY CHESTNUT.--See Australian chestnut. + +MONKEY-POT NUT.--See Sapucaia nut. + +MYROBALAN NUT.--This name is applied rather indiscriminately to the +fruits of several species of the genus _Terminalia_, which are, in +the main, large trees of the Myrobalan family (_Combretaceæ_). They +are native of India, Malay, Fiji, and, in fact, almost all the +islands of the Pacific in warm latitudes. The fruits are similar to +large plums, but slightly angular, containing a hard, nut-like seed. +They are used principally for tanning leather, and also for making +ink similar to that made from oak galls. The kernels of all the +species are edible, and are eaten by the natives. In the Fiji +islands the _Terminalia Catappa_ is a favorite tree with the +natives, and they plant it near the houses. The kernels of this +species have the flavor of the sweet almond. + +NICKAR NUT.--The seeds of two species of _Guilandina_, a genus of +the bean family (_Leguminosæ_). They are climbing plants, with +hard-wooded, prickly stems, forming almost impenetrable thickets +near the seacoast in the East Indies and other tropical countries. +They have become widely distributed, as the pods readily float when +they drop into the water. The pods are about three inches long, very +prickly, containing seeds or nuts about the size of small marbles, +and exceedingly hard; but in time the water softens them, after +which they sprout and grow when cast upon the shore by the waves. +The two species are distinguished mainly by the color of the nuts, +those of _G. Bonduc_ being yellow, and those of _G. Bonducella_ +gray, or with a reddish tint. Of no value or use except as botanical +curiosities. + +NITTA OR NUTTA NUT.--The native African name of the seeds of _Parkia +Africana_, a tree of the sensitive-tree section of the bean family +(_Leguminosæ_). It grows about forty feet high, and has compound +winged leaves. It has become naturalized in the West Indies. The +pods grow in clusters, the seeds imbedded in a yellowish, sweet +pulp, like the carob or St. John's bread, and the negroes are very +fond of them. In the Soudan the seeds are roasted, and then allowed +to ferment in water until they are soft and putrid, after which they +are washed, pounded and dried, then made up into cakes to be used as +a sauce for different kinds of food. It is supposed that the African +traveler, Mungo Park, first brought these seeds or nuts to the +notice of Europeans, and Robert Brown named the genus _Parkia_ in +his honor. + +NUTMEG.--A name applied to the fruits of a large number of trees, +and of different orders of plants. The true nutmegs of commerce are +the fruits of trees belonging to the genus _Myristica_, and of the +family _Myristicaceæ_. The oldest and best known of these is the _M. +fragrans_, a small, widely branching tree, growing twenty to +twenty-five feet high, and supposed to be indigenous to the Indian +Archipelago. The fruit is about the size of an ordinary walnut, with +a thick rind, which, upon opening, at maturity, discloses a reddish +aril covering the nut within. This aril or husk is the mace of +commerce, while the true nutmeg is the center or hard seed (nut). +The Brazil nutmeg is longer than the true species, and is sold under +the name of long nutmeg, and is the fruit of _M. fatua_. Another +species, the _M. otoba_, is cultivated in Madagascar, but is +scarcely known in commerce. + +Another species, the _M. sebifera_, is a common tree in the forests +of Guiana, North Brazil, and up into Panama. It is utilized +principally for the oil extracted from the nuts, obtained by +macerating them in water, the oil rising to the surface, and as it +cools skimmed off. + +The seeds of several species of conifers and laurels are known, +either locally or in commerce, as nutmegs, or are used as a +substitute for the true nutmeg. There are three different kinds of +trees, native of Guiana, in addition to the one already named, the +seeds of which are employed as a spice or medicine. One of these is +the _Acrodiclidium camara_. These nuts are known in commerce as +"Ackawai nutmegs," and are used mainly as a cure for diarrhœa and +colic. Another is the seed of the _Aydendron Cujumary_ tree, and +they are known in commerce as "Cujumary beans," although they are +not, strictly speaking, a bean, and the same is true of the +so-called "Puchurim beans," from the same country, for they are the +fruit of _Nectandy Puchury_, a small tree of the laurel family. They +are used as a tonic, and considered highly stimulating. + +_Clove Nutmeg_, or Madagascar nutmeg of commerce, is the fruit of +_Agathophyllum aromaticum_, a small evergreen tree, indigenous to +Madagascar. + +_Brazilian Nutmegs_ are the highly aromatic seeds of _Cryptocarya +moschata_, or _Atherosperma moschata_ of some botanists. It is a +lofty tree, native of Brazil. The aromatic nuts are used as a +substitute for nutmegs, but are very inferior to the genuine. + +_Peruvian Nutmeg, or Plum Nutmeg._--The seeds of a large evergreen +tree with aromatic foliage, like our common sassafras, and for this +reason is sometimes called Chilean or Peruvian sassafras. The seeds +are of no more economic value than those of our native sassafras. It +is known under various botanical names, but _Laurelia sempervirens_ +is, perhaps, the most familiar. + +_California Nutmeg_, or _Stinking Nutmeg_, is the nut-like seed of +_Torreya Californica_, a small tree of the yew family (_Taxaceæ_). +The fruit is from an inch to an inch and a half long, with a fleshy +rind enclosing a hard, long nut, which is slightly grooved like a +nutmeg. The fruit, leaves and wood are strongly scented, hence the +name of "stinking nutmeg," or "stinking yew." Another species, the +_T. taxifolia_, is a native of Florida. + +OIL NUT.--The fruit of a low-branching, deciduous native shrub, +growing three to ten feet high, with alternate leaves and small +greenish flowers in terminal spikes. It is the _Pyrularia oleifera_ +of Gray, and _Hamiltonia oleifera_ of Muhlenberg. The fruit is in +the form of a pear-shaped drupe, about an inch long, the small seed +or nut with an oily kernel of strong acrid taste; of no value. This +shrub is found on shady banks in the mountains of Pennsylvania, and +southward into Georgia. + +PARADISE NUT.--See Sapucaia nut. + +PEANUT, GROUNDNUT, GOOBER.--The well-known fruit of _Arachis +hypogæa_, a low-growing annual belonging to the pulse or pea family +(_Leguminosæ_), supposed to be a native of South America, but now +extensively cultivated in nearly all semi-tropical countries and +wherever the summers are long enough to insure the ripening of the +seeds. Extensively cultivated in Virginia, south and westward. Too +well known to require any further comment or notice here. + +PECAN NUT.--See Chap. VII. + +PEKEA NUT.--See Souari nut. + +PERUVIAN NUT.--See Nutmegs. + +PHYSIC NUT.--The seeds of _Jatropha Curcas_, a small tree of the +spurgewort family (_Euphorbiaceæ_). It is native of some of the West +Indies and warmer parts of South America, but now cultivated in +other tropical countries for its seeds, which yield an oil used for +the same purposes as castor oil, but rather more powerful and +drastic. The seeds have a nutty flavor, but are rather dangerous if +eaten in any considerable quantities, and death has been known to +follow excess in this direction. + +PHYSIC NUT.--In "Bartram's Travels," he refers to a seed or nut of a +plant he found growing in Florida under this name, p. 41, as +follows: " ... some very curious new shrubs and plants, particularly +the physic nut or Indian olive. The stems arise, many from a root, +two or three feet high; the leaves sit opposite, on very short +petioles; they are broad, lanceolate, entire and undulated, having a +smooth surface, of a deep green color. From the bosom of each leaf +is produced a single oval drupe, standing erect on long slender +stems; it has a large kernel and thin pulp. The fruit is yellow when +ripe, and about the size of an olive. The Indians, when they go in +pursuit of deer, carry this fruit with them, supposing that it has +the power of charming or drawing that creature to them, from whence, +with traders, it has obtained the name of physic nut, which means, +with them, charming, conjuring or fascinating." + +To what kind of fruit Bartram referred under the name of "physic +nut," is not certain, but his description of the plant comes very +near that of the American olive (_Olea Americana_), but the fruit of +this and other closely allied plants of the same family are not +"yellow" when ripe, but purple. + +PIGNUT, OR HOGNUT.--See chapter on Hickory. + +PINE NUT.--A name applied indiscriminately to the many species of +pine trees (_Pinus_) bearing seeds large enough to be conveniently +used as food. In southern Europe, and especially in Italy and the +south of France, the seeds of the stone pine (_Pinus Pinea_) have +been extensively used as food, from the earliest times down to the +present day. Nearly all the ancient authors refer to them as among +the valuable products of the country. Macrobius, in his story of the +_Saturnalia_, speaks of the cones as _Nuces vel Poma Pinea_. These +pine nuts are called _Pinocchi_ in Italy and Sicily, and +occasionally a few reach this country, where the Italian name has +been corrupted into Pinolas. These seeds or nuts are used for +desserts, puddings and cakes, also eaten raw at table, as with +almonds. They have a slight taste of turpentine, but it is not +strong enough to be at all disagreeable. + +[Illustration: FIG. 104. BRANCH OF NUT PINE.] + +In this country we have several native species bearing very large +edible seeds, and they are known in the West under the general name +of _Piñon_, or nut pines. The best of these nuts, to my taste, are +the seeds of _Pinus edulis_, so named by the late Dr. Engelmann, +because of its large, sweet and edible seeds. It is a small, +low-growing tree, more or less common on dry hills and slopes, from +Colorado southward through New Mexico, and into western Texas. The +seeds of _Pinus Parryana_ and _Pinus cembroides_, of Arizona and +Lower California, are also called Piñons, and largely gathered by +the Indians. Farther east and north, we find the one-leaved pine +(_Pinus monophylla_), and although the seeds are much smaller than +those of _P. edulis_, they were formerly gathered in immense +quantities by the Indians, to help eke out their often scanty winter +store of food. Occasionally a small quantity of these pine nuts is +sent to Eastern markets, but rarely, unless ordered early in the +season. The trees of _P. edulis_ and _P. monophylla_ are perfectly +hardy here, and worth cultivating for ornament, as well as their +nuts, although their slow growth is a rather severe test of one's +patience. Fig. 104 shows a Piñon branch. + +PISTACHIO NUT.--Historically, this is a very ancient nut, for Bible +commentators claim that it is the one sent by Jacob into Egypt. It +is the fruit of a small, deciduous tree of the cashew family +(_Anacardiaceæ_), a native of western Asia, but many centuries ago +it had become naturalized in Palestine and throughout the +Mediterranean regions. It has shining evergreen winged leaves, and +the bark on the young twigs is brown, becoming russet-colored with +age. There are several different species, but the one producing the +nuts of commerce is the _Pistacia vera_, having brownish-green +flowers in loose panicles, and these are succeeded by bunches of +reddish fruit, about an inch long, with an oblique or bent point. +The nuts have a double shell, the outer one usually red, the inner +one smooth and brittle; the kernel is pale green, sweet, and of +rather pleasant taste. There are a number of varieties, differing +only slightly in form and size. This nut has been cultivated +sparingly in Great Britain since 1570, but the climate is not quite +warm enough to insure its ripening in the open air. It would +probably succeed throughout the greater part of California, as well +as in the extreme Southern States, but Mr. Berckmans writes me that +it is not hardy in his grounds at Augusta, Ga. There is a species of +pistacia known as _P. Mexicana_, found in central Mexico, and +extending as far north as San Diego, in California, according to the +report of Dr. Cooper (Botany of California, Vol. I, p. 109). + +QUANDANG NUT.--A medium size Australian tree, the _Santalum +acuminatum_, of the sandalwood family (_Santalaceæ_). It produces a +plum-like fruit, which is best known in its native country as the +quandang nut. It is used as a preserve, but is little known, except +in or near its native habitats. + +QUEENSLAND NUT.--See Australian hazelnut. + +[Illustration: FIG. 105. PARADISE OR SAPUCAIA NUT.] + +SAPUCAIA NUT.--The Brazilian name of, at least, two species of large +forest trees growing in the valley of the Amazon and its +tributaries. The best known of these is the _Lecythis Zabucajo_, a +lofty tree of the myrtle family (_Myrtaceæ_). It is closely allied +to the more common Brazil nut of commerce. The sapucaia nuts are +produced in an urn-shaped, woody capsule, which has received the +name of Monkey-pot, because when these capsules ripen the lid at the +top is suddenly liberated, emitting a sharp sound, which, as heard +by the monkeys, gives them notice that the nuts are falling, and +that the first on the ground becomes the fortunate possessor of the +largest number. The capsules or pots are about six inches in +diameter, and the lid opening at the top about two inches. The nuts, +which are packed very closely in the shell, are about one inch in +diameter, and two to three in length, with a thin, brown, and very +much wrinkled and twisted shell (Fig. 105). The kernel is white, +sweet, oily, and somewhat more delicate in flavor than that of the +common Brazil nut. In New York city these nuts are sold under the +name of Paradise nuts. But this is probably only a local name, for I +have been unable to find it in any botanical work. These nuts rarely +come to this country in any considerable quantities; a few hundred +pounds at a time would be considered a large consignment. + +SASSAFRAS NUT.--See Nutmeg, Chilean. + +SASSAFRAS NUT.--See Nutmeg, Puchury. + +SNAKE NUT.--A large, roundish fruit, about the size of the black +walnut, the product of the _Ophiocaryon paradoxum_, a large tree of +the soapberry family (_Sapindaceæ_), native of British Guiana. This +nut takes its name of "Snake nut," from the peculiar form of the +embryo of the seed, which is curled up spirally. The Indians, +thinking there must be some virtue in form, use these nuts as an +antidote for snake bites, although, so far as known to science, they +do not possess any medicinal properties. + +[Illustration: FIG. 106. SOUARI NUT.] + +SOUARI NUT, OR BUTTERNUT.--This nut, like the last, is a native of +British Guiana, and is the fruit of the _Caryocar nuciferum_, a +noble tree, growing a hundred feet high, having large, broad, +trifoliate leaves, resembling those of our common horse-chestnut, +but not quite as broad. The flowers are very large, and, with the +tube, fully a foot long, of a deep purple on the outside, and yellow +within. They are composed of five thick, fleshy petals, and as showy +as some of our best and brightest-colored magnolias. The flowers are +produced in terminal clusters or corymbs, succeeded by a large, +round, four-celled fleshy fruit five to six inches in diameter; but +as some of the embryo nuts usually fail to grow, it changes the form +of the fruit as it enlarges towards maturity, and only one or two of +the nuts mature and ripen, very much as frequently occurs in both +the sweet and horse-chestnuts. The nuts are affixed to a central +axis, and are of a rounded, subreniform shape, and even flattened to +an almost sharp edge on one side, and broadly truncate at the scar +(hilum) where they are attached to the pericarp or central axis. The +shell is of a deep brown color, embossed, as it were, with smooth +tubercles. They are from two to two and a half inches or more in +their broadest diameter, as shown in Fig. 106. The kernel or meat is +pure white, soft, rich and oily, with a pleasant flavor. This nut is +a rarity in our markets, and Mr. H. R. Davy of New York, to whom I +am indebted for a specimen, as well as other rare kinds, assures me +that in his forty-five years' experience as a dealer in foreign +fruits and nuts, he has never known of but one lot, and that one +consisted of about one-half bushel, brought into his store by a +sailor, who only knew their common South American name. These nuts +are more frequently seen in European seaports than in those of this +country. + +SOUTH SEA CHESTNUT.--See Tahitian chestnut. + +TAHITIAN CHESTNUT.--The seeds of a tree known in the South Sea +islands by the native name of Toi, but to botanists as _Inocarpus +edulis_. It belongs to the bean family (_Leguminosæ_). The tree +grows sixty to eighty feet high, and when young the stems are fluted +like a Grecian column, but as they increase with age the projections +extend outward, until they form a kind of buttress all around the +lower part, gradually decreasing upward. This so-called chestnut +tree has yellow flowers, succeeded by fibrous pods containing one +large seed or nut, which, when roasted or boiled, resembles the +chestnut in taste. The nuts have a different local name in almost +every one of the Pacific islands where it is at all abundant. + +TAVOLA NUT.--See Myrobalan nut. + +TALLOW NUT.--A local and nearly obsolete name for the fruit of the +Ogeechee lime or sour gum tree (_Nyssa capitata_) of the swamps of +Florida, Georgia and westward. The fruit is about an inch long, +resembling a small plum, the pulp having an agreeable acid taste. +Bartram, p. 94, refers to this fruit under the name of "Tallow nut," +but why so called is not explained. + +TALLOW NUT.--The fruit of the Chinese Tallow tree, _Stillingia +sebifera_, of the spurgewort family (_Euphorbiaceæ_), a native of +China, where it is, as well as in some of the warmer parts of +America, extensively cultivated. It has been planted in a few +localities in the Southern States, and appears to thrive. It is a +small tree thirty to forty feet high, with rhomboid tapering leaves +and a three-celled capsuled fruit, each cell containing only a +single seed thickly coated with a yellow, tallow-like substance, +hence its common name. This tallow or grease is used for making +soap, burning in lamps, and also for dressing cloth. + +TEMPERANCE NUT.--An English name of cola nut. + +TORREY NUT.--The hard, nut-like seeds of _Torreya nucifera_, of +Siebold, or _Taxus nucifera_, of Kæmpfer, and _Caryotaxus nucifera_, +of Zuccarini, a tree native of Japan, where these nuts are eaten by +the Japanese, either raw or roasted. An oil is also extracted from +the nuts, for use in cooking or for burning in lamps. This Japanese +tree belongs to the same genus as the so-called California nutmeg +(see Nutmeg) and our Florida stinking cedar (_T. taxifolia_), also +the great Chinese cedar (_T. grandis_). + +[Illustration: FIG. 107. WATER CHESTNUT.] + +WATER CHESTNUT.--Also known as water caltrops. The seeds of several +species of water plants of the genus _Trapa_, of the evening +primrose family (_Onagraceæ_). In southern Europe and eastward there +is a species found in ponds, the seeds of which are called Jesuit +chestnuts (_T. natans_), and in India and Ceylon a closely allied +one, the Singhara-nut plant (_T. bispinosa_), while in Lago Maggiore +there is another (_T. verbanensis_), but all may be varieties of one +and the same species, including the _Trapa bicornis_, a two-horned +water chestnut, extensively used in China and Japan as food under +various local names. In China they are called Ling, and of late +years have been occasionally imported and sold, more as curiosities +than for eating. These seeds or nuts are of a dark brown color, and +of the form and size shown in Fig. 107, resembling, in miniature, +the skull of an ox with abbreviated horns. When fresh, the kernel is +of an agreeable nutty flavor. + +WATER CHESTNUT, OR CHINQUAPIN.--The seeds of the large yellow water +lily (_Nelumbium luteum_), a very common plant in small ponds in the +West and South, but more rare in the East. The seeds are about the +size and shape of small acorns, and produced in a large, top-shaped, +fleshy receptacle. They are edible, and are supposed to have been +extensively used as food by the aborigines of this country. + + + + +INDEX. + + +Ackawai nutmeg, 274 + +Acorn, 254 + +Acrodiclidium camara, 274 + +Æsculus hippocastanum, 268 + +Agathophyllum aromaticum, 274 + +Aleurites triloba, 259 + +Almond, 12 + bitter, 34 + budding, bud in position, 28 + incision for bud, 27 + budding knife, 24 + budding knife, Yankee, 24 + prepared shoot of buds, 26 + season for budding, 22 + culture in California, 17 + history of the, 13 + insects and diseases, 39 + Cercospora circumscissa, 43 + Goes pulverulenta, 52 + Scolytus rugulosus, 42 + Taphrina deformans, 43 + orchard in California, 18 + planting and pruning, 32 + propagation of the, 19 + properties and uses of, 39 + pruning, 33 + raising seedlings for stocks, 20 + soil and exposure for the, 30 + varieties, 34 + hard-shelled, 35, 36 + large-fruited, 37 + ornamental varieties, 38 + peach, 37 + soft or brittle-shelled, 36 + sweet, 40 + thin-shelled, 37 + +Amygdalus argentea, 39 + Cochinchinensis, 38 + communis amara, 34 + dulcis, 35 + fragilis, 36 + macrocarpa, 37 + persicoides, 37 + incana, 39 + nana, 39 + orientalis, 39 + +Anacardium occidentale, 260 + +Apios tuberosa, 267 + +Arachis hypogæa, 275 + +Aralia trifolia, 266 + +Areca catechu, 256 + +Atherosperma moschata, 274 + +Attalea funifera, 264 + +Australian chestnut, 255 + +Australian hazelnut, 256 + +Aydendron cujumary, 274 + + +Beech, American, 48 + Chile, 48 + European, 48 + evergreen, 48 + history of, 44 + injurious insects, 52 + properties and uses, 52 + propagation of, 47 + soil and location for the, 47 + species and varieties, 48 + +Beechnut, 44 + leaf, bur and nut, 51 + +Ben nut, 256 + +Bertholletia excelsa, 267 + +Betel nut, 256 + +Bladder nut, 257 + +Brazil nut, 257 + +Brazilian nutmegs, 273, 274 + +Bread nut, 258 + +Brosimum alicastrum, 258 + +Buffalo nut, 259 + +Bunium bulbocastanum, 265 + +Butternut, 259, 280 + +Byzantium nut, 259 + + +California chestnut, 55 + +California nutmeg, 275 + +Calodendron Capense, 259 + +Candle nut, 259 + +Cape chestnut, 259 + +Caryocar nuciferum, 280 + +Caryotaxus nucifera, 283 + +Cashew nut, 260 + +Castanea chrysophylla var. minor, 57 + +Castanea chrysophylla var. pumila, 57 + +Castanea sempervirens, 55 + +Castanopsis, 55 + bur, 57 + chrysophylla, 55 + leaves and nuts, 56 + +Castanospermum Australe, 255 + +Caucasian walnut, 261 + +Chestnut, 60 + budding, 80 + diseases of the, 116 + distance between trees, 82 + European varieties of, 99 + Comfort, 100 + Cooper, 100 + Corson, 100 + Dager, 101 + Moncur, 101 + Numbo, 102 + spines of, 102 + Miller's Dupont, 102 + Paragon, 102 + bur, 103 + nut, 104 + spines of, 103 + tree, four years old, 105 + Ridgely, 104 + bur, 106 + Scott, 107 + Styer, 108 + flowers, 61 + French variety of the, 108 + gathering and assorting, 65 + grafting, 71 + cleft, 77 + growth of cion, 78 + large trees, 79 + materials, 72 + modes of, 75 + season for, 71 + splice, 75 + sprouts, 79 + success in, 78 + wax, 72 + history of the, 62 + insects injurious to, 113 + Balaninus carytripes, 113 + weevil, 114 + Japan, 109 + Advance, 110 + Alpha, 111 + Beta, 111 + Early Reliance, 111 + Felton, 111 + Giant, 110, 111 + Killen, 112 + Parsons, 112 + Parry's Superb, 112 + Success, 112 + mulching, 82 + native varieties of the, 94 + burless, 94 + bush chinquapin, 96 + common chinquapin, 97 + Fuller's chinquapin, 97 + chinquapin burs, 97 + chinquapin tree, 98 + Hathaway, 95 + Phillips, 95 + planting, 68 + in nursery rows, 69 + propagation of the, 64 + seedbed and soil for, 67 + soil and climate for, 83 + species of, 86 + American, 88 + species bush chinquapin, 89 + Castanea Americana, 88 + Japonica, 93 + nana, 89 + pumila, 90, 91 + sativa, 91 + vesca, 91 + European, 91 + Japan, 93 + leaf, 92 + staking transplanted trees, 81 + stocks from the forests, 70 + transplanting and pruning, 80 + uses of, 119 + +Chile hazelnut, 268 + +Chocolate nut or bean, 261 + +Clearing nut, 262 + +Clove nutmeg, 274 + +Cocoanut, 262 + double, 263 + +Cocos nucifera, 262 + +Cola acuminata, 264 + nut, 264 + +Coquito nut, 264 + +Coquilla nut, 264 + +Cream nut, 265 + +Crescentia cujete, 269 + +Cryptocarya moschata, 274 + +Cujumary beans, 274 + + +Dawa nut, 265 + +Dimocarpus longana, 271 + + +Earth nut, 265 + chestnut, 265 + +Elk nut, 265 + +Euryale ferox, 265 + +Evergreen chestnut, 55 + + +Fagus antarctica, 48 + betuloides, 48 + ferruginea, 48 + obliqua, 48 + sylvatica, 48 + +Fisticke nut, 265 + +Filbert or hazelnut, 118 + +Fox nut, 265 + + +Galeruca calmariensis, 5 + +Ginkgo biloba, 265 + nut, 265 + +Goober, 275 + +Goora nut, 264 + +Gorgon nut, 266 + +Groundnut, 266, 267, 275 + +Guevina Avellana, 268 + +Guilandina bouduc, 273 + bonducella, 273 + + +Hamiltonia oleifera, 275 + +Hazelnut or filbert, 118 + American species of hazel, 126 + beaked hazel, 127 + Corylus Americana, 126 + Corylus rostrata, 127 + Asiatic species of hazel, 128 + C. ferox & heterophylla, 128 + blight, 138 + Cryptospora anomala, 139 + fungus, 141 + European species of, 127 + Constantinople hazel, 129 + Corylus Avellana, 127 + Colurna, 128 + tubulosa, 130 + history of the filbert, 120 + insects injurious to filberts, 145 + personal experience with filberts, 132 + planting and pruning filberts, 124 + propagation of the filbert, 122 + soil, location, etc., for filberts, 123 + varieties of filbert and hazel seedlings, 135 + varieties extra large hazel seedling, 136 + varieties large filbert, 119 + large seedling hazelnut, 120 + select list of, 130 + Alba or white filbert, 130 + Cosford, or Miss Young's thin-shelled, 130 + Crispa, or frizzled filbert, 130 + Downton, large square, 130 + Grandis, or round cob-nut, 131 + Lambert's filbert, 130 + Purple-leaved filbert, 131 + red filbert, red hazel, etc., 131 + Spanish filbert, 132 + +Horse-chestnut, 268 + +Hickory nuts, 147 + age of fruiting the, 193 + big bud, 160 + big shellbark, 157 + bitter pecan, 165 + bitternut, 163, 164 + brown, 162 + budding and grafting, 183 + crown, on roots, 189 + sprouts from roots, 190 + Carya amara var. myristicæformis, 165 + Carya olivæformis, 155 + cultivation of the, 177 + Hicoria pecan and synonyms, 155 + Hicoria alba, 155 + " " synonyms, 157 + Hicoria aquatica, 165 + " " synonyms, 166 + Hicoria glabra, 162 + " " synonyms, 164 + Hicoria laciniosa, 157 + " " synonyms, 159 + Hicoria minima, 164 + " " synonyms, 165 + Hicoria myristicæformis, 165 + Hicoria tomentosa, 160 + " " synonyms, 162 + history of the, 148 + hognut, 162 + Illinois nut, 155 + insect enemies of the, 195 + American silk worm, 202 + Attacus luna, 202 + belted chion, 199 + bud worm, 202 + burrows of scolytus, 200 + Catocala, 202 + Chion cinctus, 199 + Chramesus icoriæ, 201 + Clisiocampa sylvatica, 202 + Cyllene crinicornis, 198 + pictus, 198 + robiniæ, 198 + Elaphidion inerme, 199 + Goes, beautiful, 199 + pulchra, 199 + tiger, 199 + tigrinus, 199 + Grapholitha caryana, 201 + bark borer, 199 + nut weevil, 202 + shuck worm, 201 + twig girdler, 196 + leaf miners, 202 + leaf rollers, 202 + locust borer, 198 + luna moth, 202 + Oncideres cingulatus, 196 + orange sawyer, 199 + painted borer, 198 + plant lice, 202 + Scolytus 4-spinosus, 199 + Sinoxylon basilare, 201 + Telea polyphemus, 202 + tent caterpillar, 202 + Tortricidæ, 201 + king nut, 160 + mocker nut, 160 + Pecan nut, 155 + varieties of, 167 + Alba, 167 + Biloxi, 167 + Colorado, 169 + Columbian, 167 + Early Texan, 168 + Faust, 168 + Frotscher, 168 + Georgia Melon, 168 + Gonzales, 168 + Harcourt, 168 + Idlewild, 169 + Jewett, 169 + Lady Finger, 169 + large, long, 167 + Little Mobile, 167 + Longfellow, 168 + Pride of the Coast, 169 + Primate, 168 + Mexican, 169 + Meyers, 170 + Ribera, 168 + Risien, 169 + Stuart, 169 + Turkey Egg, 169 + Van Deman, 169 + pignut 162, 164 + planting for profit, 194 + propagation of the, 180 + shellbark or shagbark, 155 + varieties of, 170 + Hales' paper-shell, 172 + long hickory, 173 + from Missouri, 173 + Western, varieties of, 174 + Floyd pecan, 177 + long, 174 + Nussbaumer's, 174-176 + species and varieties, 224 + swamp hickoria, 164, 165 + switch bud, 162 + thick, or western shellbark, 157, 158 + white-heart, 160 + + +Inocarpus edulis, 282 + +Introduction, 1 + +Importation of nuts, 8 + +Imported nuts, value of, 9 + +Ita palm nut, 271 + +Ivory nut, 269 + + +Jesuit chestnuts, 269, 283 + +Jicara nut, 269 + +Juba nut, 270 + +Jubæa spectabilis, 264 + +Juvia nut 258, 270 + + +Kipper nut, 270 + +Kola nut, 264 + + +Laurelia sempervirens, 275 + +Lecythis Zabucajo, 279 + +Leechee nut, 270 + +Litchi nut, 270 + +Lodoicea Sechellarum, 263 + +Longan, 270 + +Longyen, 270 + +Lousy nut, 271 + + +Macadamia ternifolia, 256 + +Madagascar nutmeg, 274 + +Marking nut, 271 + +Mauritia flexuosa, 271 + +Miriti nut, 271 + +Miscellaneous nuts, 254 + +Monkey-pot nut, 272 + +Moreton Bay chestnuts, 255 + +Moringa optera, 256 + pterygosperma, 256 + +Myristica fatua, 273 + fragrans, 273 + otoba, 274 + sebifera, 274 + +Myrobalan nut, 272 + + +Nectandy puchury, 274 + +Nelumbium luteum, 284 + +Nephelium pinnatum, 271 + +Nepheliums, 271 + +Nickar nut, 272 + +Nittar, or Nutta, 273 + +Nuces vel Poma Pinea, 277 + +Nutmeg, 273 + +Nutmeg hickory, 165 + +Nyssa capitata, 282 + + +Oak nut, 254 + +Oil nut 265, 275 + +Olea Americana, 276 + +Openawk, 267 + +Ophiocaryon paradoxum, 280 + + +Paradise nut, 275 + +Parkia Africana, 273 + +Peanut, 275 + +Pekea nut, 275 + +Peruvian nut, 275 + nutmeg, 274 + +Phytelephas macrocarpa, 269 + +Physic nut, 276 + +Pinang, 256 + +Pine nut, 276 + +Pinocchi, 277 + +Pinolas, 277 + +Pinon, 277 + +Pinus cembroides, 277 + edulis, 277 + monophylla, 278 + Parryana, 277 + pinea, 276 + +Piper betel, 256 + +Pistacia Mexicana, 278 + vera, 278 + +Pistachio nut, 278 + +Plum nutmeg, 274 + +Pterocarya fraxinifolia, 261 + +Puchurim beans, 274 + +Pyrularia oleifera, 275 + + +Quandang nut, 279 + +Qudria heterophylla, 268 + +Queensland nut, 256 + +Quercus virens, 255 + + +Raffia, or Roffia, 25 + +Rambutan, 270 + + +Salisburia adiantifolia, 265 + +Santalum acuminatum, 279 + +Sapucaia nut, 279 + +Sardis nut, 63 + +Sassafras nut, 280 + +Semecarpus anacardium, 271 + +Singhara-nut plant, 283 + +Snake nut, 280 + +Sonari nut, 280 + +South Sea chestnut, 282 + +Staphylea trifolia, 257 + +Stillingia sebifera, 282 + +Stinking nutmeg, 275 + +Strychnos potatorum, 262 + + +Tahitian chestnut, 282 + +Tallow nut, 282 + +Tavola nut, 282 + +Taxus nucifera, 283 + +Temperance nut, 283 + +Terminalia Catappa, 272 + +Theobroma cacao, 261 + +Torrey nut, 283 + +Torreya Californica, 275 + nucifera, 283 + +Trapa bicornis, 283 + bispinosa, 283 + natans, 283 + verbanensis, 283 + + +Walnut, 203 + American, 224 + black, 232 + black, in husk, 232 + varieties of, 233 + butternut, 224 + sugar, 227 + varieties of, 225 + California, 234 + Carya cathartica, 225 + Juglans Californica, 234 + cathartica, 225 + cinerea, 224 + hybrida, 225 + oblonga alba, 225 + nigra, 232 + nigra, husk removed, 233 + nigra oblonga, 233 + rupestris, 235 + New Mexico, 235 + Texas, 235 + Wallia cinerea, 225 + white, 224 + budding and grafting, 218 + flute, 220 + history, 203 + husking, 250 + hybrids in California, 227 + flowering branch of, 228 + Juglans Californica, 229 + Sieboldiana, 231, 237 + insect enemies of the, 251 + Citheronia regalis, 252 + Regal walnut moth, 252 + Jovis glans, 203 + Juglans, 203 + Oriental, 236 + Juglans ailantifolia, 237 + Camirium, 236 + Catappa, 236 + cordiformis, 239 + Japonica, 236 + Mandshurica, 237 + Persian, 204 + in America, 209 + Persian, Barthere, 242 + Chaberte, 242 + Chile, 240, 242 + Cluster, 243 + Cut-leaved, 243 + English, 240 + Franquette, 243 + French, 240 + Gant, or Bijou, 243 + Juglans regia, 240 + regia octogona, 245 + serotina, 247 + Kaghazi, 244 + Large-fruited Præparturiens, 244 + Late Præparturiens, 244 + Late, 247 + Madeira nut, 240 + Mayette, 245 + Mesange, or paper-shell, 245 + Meylan, 246 + Octogona, 246 + Parisienne, 246 + Præparturiens, 246 + Precocious, 246 + Racemosa, or Spicata, 243 + Royal, 240 + Small fruited, 240 + St. John, 247 + Variegated, 248 + Vilmorin, 247 + Vourey, 247 + Weeping, 248 + planting and pruning, 223 + propagation of, 215 + seedling, 216 + +Water chestnut, 269, 283, 284 + chinquapin, 284 + hickory, 165 + +Western cashew, 260 + chinquapin, 55 + +Winged-seeded moringa, 256 + +Winged walnut, 261 + + + + + SENT FREE ON APPLICATION. + + DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE + + --OF-- + + RURAL BOOKS, + + CONTAINING 116 8VO. 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A complete treatise on Greenhouse + structures and arrangements of the various forms and styles of + Plant Houses for professional florists as well as amateurs. All + the best and most approved structures are so fully and clearly + described that anyone who desires to build a Greenhouse will + have no difficulty in determining the kind best suited to his + purpose. The modern and most successful methods of heating and + ventilating are fully treated upon. Special chapters are devoted + to houses used for the growing of one kind of plants + exclusively. The construction of hotbeds and frames receives + appropriate attention. Over one hundred excellent illustrations, + specially engraved for this work, make every point clear to the + reader and add considerably to the artistic appearance of the + book. Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Bulbs and Tuberous-Rooted Plants.= + + By C. L. Allen. A complete treatise on the History, Description, + Methods of Propagation and full Directions for the successful + culture of Bulbs in the garden, Dwelling and Greenhouse. As + generally treated, bulbs are an expensive luxury, while, when + properly managed, they afford the greatest amount of pleasure at + the least cost. The author of this book has for many years made + bulb growing a specialty, and is a recognized authority on their + cultivation and management. The illustrations which embellish + this work have been drawn from nature, and have been engraved + especially for this book. The cultural directions are plainly + stated, practical and to the point. Cloth, 12mo. 2.00 + +=Henderson's Practical Floriculture.= + + By Peter Henderson. A guide to the successful propagation and + cultivation of florists' plants. The work is not one for + florists and gardeners only, but the amateur's wants are + constantly kept in mind, and we have a very complete treatise on + the cultivation of flowers under glass, or in the open air, + suited to those who grow flowers for pleasure as well as those + who make them a matter of trade. Beautifully illustrated. New + and enlarged edition. Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Long's Ornamental Gardening for Americans.= + + A Treatise on Beautifying Homes, Rural Districts and Cemeteries. + A plain and practical work at a moderate price, with numerous + illustrations and instructions so plain that they may be readily + followed. By Elias A. Long, Landscape Architect. Illustrated, + Cloth, 12mo. 2.00 + +=The Propagation of Plants.= + + By Andrew S. Fuller. Illustrated with numerous engravings. An + eminently practical and useful work. Describing the process of + hybridizing and crossing species and varieties, and also the + many different modes by which cultivated plants may be + propagated and multiplied. Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Parsons on the Rose.= + + By Samuel B. Parsons. A treatise on the propagation, culture and + history of the rose. New and revised edition. In his work upon + the rose, Mr. Parsons has gathered up the curious legends + concerning the flower, and gives us an idea of the esteem in + which it was held in former times. A simple garden + classification has been adopted, and the leading varieties under + each class enumerated and briefly described. The chapters on + multiplication, cultivation and training are very full, and the + work is altogether one of the most complete before the public. + Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. 1.00 + +=Henderson's Handbook of Plants.= + + This new edition comprises about fifty per cent. more genera + than the former one, and embraces the botanical name, + derivation, natural order, etc., together with a short history + of the different genera, concise instructions for their + propagation and culture, and all the leading local or common + English names, together with a comprehensive glossary of + Botanical and Technical terms. Plain instructions are also given + for the cultivation of the principal vegetables, fruits and + flowers. Cloth, large 8vo. 4.00 + +=Barry's Fruit Garden.= + + By P. Barry. A standard work on Fruit and Fruit Trees; the + author having had over thirty years' practical experience at the + head of one of the largest nurseries in this country. New + edition revised up to date. Invaluable to all fruit growers. + Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. 2.00 + +=Fulton's Peach Culture.= + + This is the only practical guide to Peach Culture on the + Delaware Peninsula, and is the best work upon the subject of + peach growing for those who would be successful in that culture + in any part of the country. It has been thoroughly revised and a + large portion of it rewritten, by Hon. J. Alexander Fulton, the + author, bringing it down to date. Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Strawberry Culturist.= + + By Andrew S. Fuller. Containing the History, Sexuality, Field + and Garden Culture of Strawberries, forcing or pot culture, how + to grow from seed, hybridizing, and all information necessary to + enable everybody to raise their own strawberries, together with + a description of new varieties and a list of the best of the old + sorts. Fully illustrated. Flexible cloth, 12mo. .25 + +=Fuller's Small Fruit Culturist.= + + By Andrew S. Fuller. Rewritten, enlarged, and brought fully up + to the present time. The book covers the whole ground of + propagating Small Fruits, their culture, varieties, packing for + market, etc. It is very finely and thoroughly illustrated, and + makes an admirable companion to "The Grape Culturist," by the + same well known author. 1.50 + +=Fuller's Grape Culturist.= + + By A. S. Fuller. This is one of the very best of works on the + Culture of the Hardy Grapes, with full directions for all + departments of propagation, culture, etc., with 150 excellent + engravings, illustrating planting, training, grafting, etc. + Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Quinn's Pear Culture for Profit.= + + Teaching How to Raise Pears intelligently, and with the best + results, how to find out the character of the soil, the best + methods of preparing it, the best varieties to select under + existing conditions, the best modes of planting, pruning, + fertilizing, grafting, and utilizing the ground before the trees + come into bearing, and finally of gathering and packing for + market. Illustrated. By P. T. Quinn, practical horticulturist. + Cloth, 12mo. 1.00 + +=Husmann's American Grape Growing and Wine-Making.= + + By George Husmann of Talcoa vineyards, Napa, California. New and + enlarged edition. With contributions from well known + grape-growers, giving a wide range of experience. The author of + this book is a recognized authority on the subject. Cloth, 12mo. + 1.50 + +=White's Cranberry Culture.= + + Contents:--Natural History.--History of Cultivation.--Choice of + Location.--Preparing the Ground.--Planting the + Vines.--Management of Meadows.--Flooding.--Enemies and + Difficulties Overcome.--Picking.--Keeping.--Profit and + Loss.--Letters from Practical Growers.--Insects Injurious to the + Cranberry. By Joseph J. White, a practical grower. Illustrated. + Cloth, 12mo. New and revised edition. 1.25 + +=Fuller's Practical Forestry.= + + A Treatise on the Propagation, Planting and Cultivation, with a + description and the botanical and proper names of all the + indigenous trees of the United States, both Evergreen and + Deciduous, with Notes on a large number of the most valuable + Exotic Species. By Andrew S. Fuller, author of "Grape + Culturist," "Small Fruit Culturist," etc. 1.50 + +=Stewart's Irrigation for the Farm, Garden and Orchard.= + + This work is offered to those American Farmers and other + cultivators of the soil who, from painful experience, can + readily appreciate the losses which result from the scarcity of + water at critical periods. By Henry Stewart. Fully illustrated. + Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Quinn's Money in the Garden.= + + By P. T. Quinn. The author gives in a plain, practical style, + instructions on three distinct, although closely connected + branches of gardening--the kitchen garden, market garden, and + field culture, from successful practical experience for a term + of years. Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. 1.50 + +=Roe's Play and Profit in My Garden.= + + By E. P. Roe. The author takes us to his garden on the rocky + hill-sides in the vicinity of West Point, and shows us how out + of it, after four years' experience, he evoked a profit of + $1,000, and this while carrying on pastoral and literary labor. + It is very rarely that so much literary taste and skill are + mated to so much agricultural experience and good sense. Cloth, + 12mo. 1.50 + +=The New Onion Culture.= + + By T. Greiner. This new work is written by one of our most + successful agriculturists, and is full of new, original, and + highly valuable matter of material interest to every one who + raises onions in the family garden, or by the acre for market. + By the process here described a crop of 2000 bushels per acre + can be as easily raised as 500 or 600 bushels in the old way. + Paper, 12mo. .50 + +=The Dairyman's Manual.= + + By Henry Stewart, author of "The Shepherd's Manual," + "Irrigation," etc. A useful and practical work, by a writer who + is well known as thoroughly familiar with the subject of which + he writes. Cloth, 12mo. 2.00 + +=Allen's American Cattle.= + + Their History, Breeding and Management. By Lewis F. Allen. This + book will be considered indispensable by every breeder of live + stock. The large experience of the author in improving the + character of American herds adds to the weight of his + observations and has enabled him to produce a work which will at + once make good his claims as a standard authority on the + subject. New and revised edition. Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. 2.50 + +=Profits in Poultry.= + + Useful and ornamental Breeds and their Profitable Management. + This excellent work contains the combined experience of a number + of practical men in all departments of poultry raising. It is + profusely illustrated and forms a unique and important addition + to our poultry literature. Cloth, 12mo. 1.00 + +=The American Standard of Perfection.= + + The recognized standard work on Poultry in this country, adopted + by the American Poultry Association. It contains a complete + description of all the recognized varieties of fowls, including + turkeys, ducks and geese; gives instructions to judges; glossary + of technical terms and nomenclature. It contains 244 pages, + handsomely bound in cloth, embellished with title in gold on + front cover. $1.00 + +=Stoddard's An Egg Farm.= + + By H. H. Stoddard. The management of poultry in large numbers, + being a series of articles written for the AMERICAN + AGRICULTURIST. Illustrated. Cloth, 12mo. .50 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Nut Culturist, by Andrew S. 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