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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
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[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
(moncious) 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_),
moncious, 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 diarrha 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
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