(Revised and adopted at Norris, Tennessee, September 13, 1948)

SECTION I.—MEMBERSHIP

Classes of membership are defined as follows:

ARTICLE I. ANNUAL MEMBERS. Persons who are interested in the purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Three Dollars ($3.00).

ARTICLE II. Contributing members. Persons who are interested in the purposes of the Association who pay annual dues of Ten Dollars ($10.00) or more.

ARTICLE III. LIFE MEMBERS. Persons who are interested in the purposes of the Association who contribute Seventy-Five Dollars ($75.00) to its support and who shall, after such contribution, pay no annual dues.

ARTICLE IV. HONORARY MEMBERS. Those whom the Association has elected as honorary members in recognition of their achievements in the special fields of the Association and who shall pay no dues.

ARTICLE V. PERPETUAL MEMBERS. "Perpetual" membership is eligible to any one who leaves at least five hundred dollars to the Association and such membership on payment of said sum to the Association shall entitle the name of the deceased to be forever enrolled in the list of members as "Perpetual" with the words "In Memoriam" added thereto. Funds received therefor shall be invested by the Treasurer in interest bearing securities legal for trust funds in the District of Columbia. Only the interest shall be expended by the Association. When such funds are in the treasury the Treasurer shall be bonded. Provided: that in the event the Association becomes defunct or dissolves, then, in that event, the Treasurer shall turn over any funds held in his hands for this purpose for such uses, individuals or companies that the donor may designate at the time he makes the bequest of the donation.

SECTION II.—DUTIES OF OFFICERS

ARTICLE I. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Association and Board of Directors, and may call meetings of the Board of Directors when he believes it to be the best interests of the Association. He shall appoint the State Vice-presidents; the standing committees, except, the Nominating Committee, and such special committees as the Association may authorize.

ARTICLE II. Vice-president. In the absence of the President, the
Vice-president shall perform the duties of the President.

ARTICLE III. Secretary. The Secretary shall be the active executive officer of the Association. He shall conduct the correspondence relating to the Association's interests, assist in obtaining memberships and otherwise actively forward the interests of the Association, and report to the Annual Meeting and from time to time to meetings of the Board of Directors as they may request.

ARTICLE IV. Treasurer. The Treasurer shall receive and record memberships, receive and account for all moneys of the Association and shall pay all bills approved by the President or the Secretary. He shall give such security as the Board of Directors may require or may legally be required, shall invest life memberships or other funds as the Board of Directors may direct, subject to legal restrictions and in accordance with the law, and shall submit a verified account of receipts and disbursements to the Annual meeting and such current accounts as the Board of Directors may from time to time require. Before the final business session of the Annual Meeting of the Association, the accounts of the Treasurer shall be submitted for examination to the Auditing Committee appointed by the President at the opening session of the Annual Meeting.

ARTICLE V. The Board of Directors shall manage the affairs of the association between meetings. Four members, including at least two elected officers, shall be considered a quorum.

SECTION III.—ELECTIONS

ARTICLE I. The Officers shall be elected at the Annual Meeting and hold office for one year beginning immediately following the close of the Annual Meeting.

ARTICLE II. The Nominating Committee shall present a slate of officers on the first day of the Annual Meeting and the election shall take place at the closing session. Nominations for any office may be presented from the floor at the time the slate is presented or immediately preceding the election.

ARTICLE III. For the purpose of nominating officers for the year 1949 and thereafter, a committee of five members shall be elected annually at the preceding Annual Meeting.

ARTICLE IV. A quorum at a regularly called Annual Meeting shall be fifteen (15) members and must include at least two of the elected officers.

ARTICLE V. All classes of members whose dues are paid shall be eligible to vote and hold office.

SECTION IV.—FINANCIAL MATTERS

ARTICLE I. The fiscal year of the Association shall extend from October 1st through the following September 30th. All annual memberships shall begin October 1st.

ARTICLE II. The names of all members whose dues have not been paid by
January 1st shall be dropped from the rolls of the Society. Notices of
non-payment of dues shall be mailed to delinquent members on or about
December 1st.

ARTICLE III. The Annual Report shall be sent to only those members who have paid their dues for the current year. Members whose dues have not been paid by January 1st shall be considered delinquent. They will not be entitled to receive the publication or other benefits of the Association until dues are paid.

SECTION V.—MEETINGS

ARTICLE I. The place and time of the Annual Meeting shall be selected by the membership in session or, in the event of no selection being made at this time, the Board of Directors shall choose the place and time for the holding of the annual convention. Such other meetings as may seem desirable may be called by the President and Board of Directors.

SECTION VI.—PUBLICATIONS

ARTICLE I. The Association shall publish a report each fiscal year and such other publications as may be authorized by the Association.

ARTICLE II. The publishing of the report shall be the responsibility of the Committee on Publications.

SECTION VII.—AWARDS

ARTICLE I. The Association may provide suitable awards for outstanding contributions to the cultivation of nut bearing plants and suitable recognition for meritorious exhibits as may be appropriate.

SECTION VIII.—STANDING COMMITTEES

As soon as practical after the Annual Meeting of the Association, the
President shall appoint the following standing committees:

1. Membership 2. Auditing 3. Publications 4. Survey 5. Program 6. Research 7. Exhibit 8. Varieties and Contests

SECTION IX.—REGIONAL GROUPS AND AFFILIATED SOCIETIES

ARTICLE I. The Association shall encourage the formation of regional groups of its members, who may elect their own officers and organize their own local field days and other programs. They may publish their proceedings and selected papers in the yearbooks of the parent society subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.

ARTICLE II. Any independent regional association of nut growers may affiliate with the Northern Nut Growers Association provided one-fourth of its members are also members of the Northern Nut Growers Association. Such affiliated societies shall pay an annual affiliation fee of $3.00 to the Northern Nut Growers Association. Papers presented at the meetings of the regional society may be published in the proceedings of the parent society subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.

SECTION X.—AMENDMENTS TO BY-LAWS

ARTICLE I. These by-laws may be amended at any Annual Meeting by a two-thirds vote of the members present provided such amendments shall have been submitted to the membership in writing at least thirty days prior to that meeting.

Proceedings

44th Annual Meeting

Northern Nut Growers Association

Rochester, New York

August 31—September 1, 1953

MONDAY MORNING SESSION

PRESIDENT BEST: We are opening this 44th Annual Meeting of the Northern Nut Growers Association with this historic gavel which was made from wood grown in the Thomas Littlepage pecan grove near Washington, D. C. Opening each session with this gavel has been a custom of this organization for many, many years.

We are very anxious to have you folks meet some of the men who have made
our meeting possible here at Rochester. I would first like to introduce
Mr. W. Stephen Thomas, Director of the Rochester Museum of Arts and
Sciences. Mr. Thomas.

MR. THOMAS: Thank you, Mr. Best.

We are always glad to welcome groups such as yours. You represent a unique organization to us with interests not in our field. We are a public institution, and are glad to have you here.

I feel there are many things of interest in this museum and in our program to interest you, because you are horticulturists and people interested in the out-of-doors.

This museum is owned by the City of Rochester. By the way, there are only about 12 museums throughout the country that are supported as we are. We get 98 per cent of our funds from the City of Rochester. It is not endowed. It is the people's museum. In the exhibit upstairs are three dimensional models showing the evolution of the Genesee Valley in New York from early times to the present. Here you will see a beautiful panorama of what it looked like two hundred million years ago right where we are sitting and standing now when the seas overlay the area during the Devonian and Silurian times. We have reconstructed the little sea creatures that lived in the rocks in their natural colors.

Another exhibit is the Indian story, primitive man, not just before the white man came, but going back 1500 years. On the top floor you may see how the pioneer man worked here as a woodcutter and running flour mills and how the city came about. The whole story of our region is in the museum.

But more important than these exhibits is what we do through the educational system; adult lectures, and so forth. That is just a little background of our work. I know you have your important business at hand, but I hope you will have a little time to view the exhibits. We want to help you in any way we can. If there is anything we can do, don't fail to ask.

PRESIDENT BEST: Thank you, Mr. Thomas. Most of you met Mr. Wilbur Wright last night out at the park. He is going to make an address of welcome from the City of Rochester and from the parks. Mr. Wright.

MR. WRIGHT: Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the City of Rochester and the Park Department, we want to welcome you to The Friendly City. We want you to feel that Rochester has its hand out for a wide open welcome for anything we can do to make you happy while you are here.

The parks are particularly interested in the fact that you have chosen Rochester as your conference city for 1953. The parks, as you know, are a good deal like the museum. They are botanical collections in the heart of the city, the money coming from the city; the taxpayers pay the bill. We have a tremendous botanical collection here, and are known the country over for our lilac and other collections.

We have, in the past two years, appointed Bernard Harkness to take charge of our plant collections, with the title of taxonomist. It took quite a bit of backing to get Civil Service to break down and make such a title. There wasn't such a title in the State of New York, and they couldn't understand why they should give it.

Mr. Grant is another good Cornellian coming along as Assistant Superintendent of Parks, and he is, again, looking after the maintenance and upkeep of the various plant materials that we have.

We have a very large organization here, the Parks Division includes the cemeteries, 90,000 street trees, 56 playgrounds, and about 2,000 acres of parks. Our peak employment is 756 people. All-in-all we have a tremendous amount of interest in our parks, and they are increasing. We are exchanging plants with about 25 foreign countries right now, and we expect to expand that now with the various facilities we are setting up at our new herbarium, which you visited last night.

We are proud of Rochester, and the park system. We are doing our best to continue the excellent work of Dunbar, Laney, and Slavin who built up the park collections. Our aim is to increase the collections, and make the park system better for the people to enjoy. We hope you have a fine time while you are here. Thank you.

PRESIDENT BEST: Dr. MacDaniels, ex-president of our Association will give our organization's response.

DR. MACDANIELS: Chairman Best, Director Thomas and Director Wright, I don't know whether I am particularly well qualified for this particular assignment, but I am certainly very happy to express the thanks of the Northern Nut Growers Association for the excellent cooperation in arranging the facilities which we have found here in Rochester. Few of us can recall any situation in which the Association has been helped all along the way, as they have been here, and we feel most welcome in this truly friendly city.

Before the meeting I thought I was going to be able to claim a sort of paternal interest in the training of Director Wright in that he studied just prior to the war in the Department of Floriculture and Ornamental Horticulture at Cornell University where I am stationed. Although we saw a good deal of him after the war, he came directly here, so I can't say that I knew him "way back when" he was an undergraduate student. Still we do have a proprietary interest in all Cornellians, and we like to see the home team make good as has certainly been the case here.

Fortunately, Ithaca is close enough to Rochester, so that our classes can come to the Rochester parks on field trips where we have always received the most friendly cooperation and help just as the Northern Nut Growers is receiving today. I assure you that we are most grateful.

PRESIDENT BEST: We will proceed with the business of the organization.
On the Resolutions Committee which will give us resolutions for adoption
at our final night session, I appoint Mr. Davidson, Mr. Allaman, Mr.
Oakes and Mr. Snyder.

The next item of business is the election of a Nominating Committee. This committee is to nominate the officers which will be elected at our next annual meeting. Nominations are now in order.

DR. MCKAY: I nominate Mr. Machovina.

MR. DAVIDSON: Mr. Silvis.

DR. CRANE: I'd like to nominate Mr. Salzer.

MR. DAVIDSON: I think Dr. Crane ought to be nominated.

MR. STOKE: I nominate Mr. Kyle from Iowa.

DR. DOWELL: I move nominations be closed.

PRESIDENT BEST: Is there a second to Dr. Dowell's motion that nominations be closed? (Motion seconded and passed.)

PRESIDENT BEST: Nominations are closed. Those in favor of this list, Mr.
Kyle, Dr. Crane, Mr. George Salzer, Mr. Silvis, Mr. Machovina, for
Nominating Committee for next year make it known by saying "Aye."
(Chorus of "ayes") Opposed? (None.)

PRESIDENT BEST: May we have the report of the Program Committee. They have been at work, we can see that. The evidence is on every hand. Dr. McKay?

DR. MCKAY: The program you have in your hands represents the work of the Program Committee. The work of the Program Committee is done prior to the meeting and I want to say that this year I really did have fine cooperation from the members and from the members of the committee in responding to requests for numbers on the program. That always makes the work of a committee easy. Because of this fine cooperation I can say truthfully that the effort on my part was relatively small.

As all of you know, we now have a larger group of people to draw from for our programs than formerly. We always go back, of course, to our tried and true members who, year after year, give us numbers for the program, but we also like to give the new members a chance and recruit from new sources whenever possible. I haven't analyzed the program enough to know exactly how many new members are listed on the program this year, but I think you will find a few, and as the organization continues to grow, it will be desirable to use these new sources of information for items on the program as much as we can.

PRESIDENT BEST: That's fine. I don't think we can emphasize that too much, this new-member proposition.

We are ready now for the report of the Secretary, Mr. Chase.

MR. CHASE: About the only report that I have to make is one that was prepared by Mr. Carl Prell, and I don't see why in the world he didn't give it, since it's such a fine job of getting together the information on membership. I am going to try to sum this up for you, in order that you will know the progress we made in the membership drive to which so many of you contributed.

On the books as of today we have 1013 paid up members. (Applause.) In addition to that, we have 15 more who will begin membership the beginning of our fiscal year, and in addition to that, there are ten more too new to be acknowledged yet. So we are in pretty good shape on membership.

New members total is 455, which is, I think, just about double from last year, if my memory serves me correctly. Leader in the members by state is our good, old friend Ohio with 126. They produced 42 new members this year. Second on the list is Illinois, with 102, and they came up with 38 new members.

DR. MACDANIEL: I think this is the first year we have had a hundred members from any state.

MR. CHASE: Pennsylvania has 83, with 26 new members. New York 78, with 27 new members. Indiana 70 with 31 new members. Michigan 58 with 28 new members. That covers the top six states.

During the year we lost 71 members. That breaks down to five deceased, 12 resigned and 54 that we haven't heard from. Out of the 12 that resigned, seven were one-year old and only 5 older members. Now, of the 54 not heard from, 40 were one-year members and 14 were older members. Total loss is 71, actually. We had 14 reinstatements this year.

Does anyone have a question on membership? There are quite a few folks in the Association who are really working hard to get new members, and a great number have come up with at least one. But, actually, I believe, Carl, it's a very small percentage of the membership that's really working, is that correct?

MR. PRELL: I am afraid so.

MR. CHASE: And the 71 lost, you considered about normal, didn't you? We have to figure on losing about 10 per cent. Well, we can't afford to lose a hundred.

I don't have too much to report as Secretary, except we might briefly review this hectic year since the little sub-zero walnut story appeared in the Farm Journal. In June a year ago I received a request for an article on the hardy English walnut. I handled it as a routine request and sent it to the Farm Journal. Of course, Joe McDaniel was secretary, and I referred all the interested readers to him for further information. The first batch of mail hit Joe right after our meeting in Rockport, and he had 1500 inquiries within two weeks. I forgot to warn him that this might be coming up, and he went ahead and handled about 1500 of these inquiries, and then I don't know what happened to him, he started sending them down to me. Between myself, my secretary, my wife, and my boy we handled the other 4,000, and they are still, as Joe says, actually coming in.

To handle that, took some of our funds as you see under "promotion business", in the treasurer's report. The mimeographing was gratis, also the assembling and mailing, but the postage we had to pay for.

So all we have to show for that is about how many members, Carl?

MR. PRELL: I will say 200.

MR. CHASE: That's about right. As these inquiries came in we compiled lists of names and sent them to Mr. Best. Then Mr. Best mimeographed a letter and some other material, along with an application folder and followed up these inquiries except the last 500. So we hit them once with a three-page information sheet from the Secretary's office, then Mr. Best at least once again with a follow-up letter, and out of almost 5,000 we get about 200 members, which is pretty good. And there are a lot of other folks I know would join if somebody would contact them.

MR. CHASE: So ever since last October I don't know what side is up so far as N.N.G.A. is concerned. I don't pretend it hasn't taken a good deal of effort and a lot of time from some things that I should have done, but I enjoyed doing it for the Association, and I have no regrets. The only thing I am sorry about is that we didn't get 500 instead of just 200 members.

PRESIDENT BEST: Thank you. Spencer. (Applause.) That's a fine report.

May we hear from our Auditing Committee, Mr. Silvis.

MR. SILVIS: The report of the Treasurer, which I have just had an opportunity of inspecting, is the most professional document I have ever had the pleasure of examining as a member of this Auditing Committee on which I have been several times. And I think a testimonial is due our Treasurer, Mr. Carl Prell, who has combined the rare talents of bookkeeping and comparative reporting.

The Auditing Committee, composed of Sterling Smith, who was not able to be here, Mr. Pape of Indiana, and myself, accept this report of Carl Prell on behalf of this Northern Nut Growers Association,

PRESIDENT BEST: Let's have the Treasurer's report. Mr. Prell

Report of the Treasurer

CARL PRELL, South Bend, Indiana

At the beginning of this fiscal year it seemed likely to your Board of Directors that the Association's investment in government bonds would have to be converted into cash to meet the year's expenses. There was barely enough money in the treasury to pay for the 42nd Annual Report, which should have been billed the preceding year.

Normally, the treasurer collects only enough money to pay for one report, plus the year's operating expenses. The problem this year was to pay operating expenses and to discharge our obligation on two reports.

Anticipating this problem, and in an effort to correct recurring deficits, your Board made plans back in 1951 for a drive to increase membership. Some momentum was gained by the end of last year, which carried into this year with increasing force. The result was the substantial gain in membership reported upon by your Secretary—with a substantial increase in revenue.

Membership drives, of course, are a mixed blessing. They may produce more dues; but they certainly cost money. Our promotion expenditure jumped from practically nothing in 1951 to $115 in 1952 to $620 in 1953. However, our dues collection from new members thus gained, were more than $1200 in 1953 alone—twice as much as was spent. And it is important to note that an expenditure to gain a member is made only once, whereas the member's dues continue year after year.

In any event, increased membership was a factor in keeping us from cashing our reserves.

Another important factor was the very generous response of the membership to a plea for Sustaining and Contributing dues. Thirty percent of our old members responded with $10.00 payments for Contributing Memberships or $5.00 payments for Sustaining Memberships. This help was needed. It is deserving of special mention in this report.

One other factor contributed to successful operation this year, as it has in other years. This factor does not show up in figures in a financial statement for the simple reason that the figures are modestly withheld from the treasurer. I refer to the out-of-pocket and unreported expenditures of officers and committeemen, which expenditures sometimes are sizeable. Certainly they were this year. The fact that such contributions were made should be noted.

The sum total of all this is a financial showing for the year that may be considered satisfactory. Our debts are all paid. No bonds were cashed. Nothing was borrowed. And we have money in the bank.

At this time last year we had a cash balance of $1313.78. Today our balance is $303.70. We spent $1,000 more than we took in. But we paid for two Annual Reports. The lesser report cost $1200. If this were subtracted from this year's business, where it does not belong, our cash balance would be $1500.00. In short, on this year's business—even with all its unusual expenses for promotion—our income was more than our disbursements—by $200.00. This reverses the deficit trend of recent years.

RECEIPTS
Membership Dues $3,638.05
Sale of Annual Reports 394.00
Advertising in Nutshell 110.00
Contributions 39.00
Interest on Government Bonds 37.50
_________
TOTAL $4,218.55

DISBURSEMENTS
42nd Annual Report (Urbana) $1,205.53
Printing (1000 copies) $1,050.00
Reporting (addi. billing) 97.05
Postage & Addressing 58.48
43rd Annual Report (Rockport) $1,760.72
Printing (1200 copies) $1,477.42
Envelopes, 800 19.60
Reporting 100.00
Postage & Addressing 163.70
The Nutshell
Printing, 4 issues 353.11
American Fruit Grower 39.00
73 Subscriptions at 50¢ 36.50
2 Subscriptions at 75¢ 1.50
1 Subscription at 1.00 1.00
Association Promotion 620.47
Application folder, printing 11,200 164.28
Stationery for Sub-Zero and V. P. campaigns 337.24
Mimeo Sub-Zero and follow-up, 1500 59.00
Postage, Things of Science 59.95
Secretary's Fee, 50¢ per member 517.50
1952-53 Fee to date 506.50
Balance of 1951-52 11.00
Stationery and Supplies 268.22
Secretary's Expense 315.87
Treasurer's Expense 143.21
Dues, American Horticultural Society 5.00
_________
TOTAL $5,228.63

Cash on deposit, First Bank, South Bend $ 303.70
Disbursements 5,228.63
_________
$5,532.33

On hand, August 18, 1952 $1,313.78
Receipts 4,218.55
_________
$5,532.33
U. S. Bonds in Safety Deposit Box $3,000.00

MR. PRELL: I am going to close right now with this information which the Association, I think, should have. The membership promotion consisted of a campaign called the "Vice-president's Campaign" sparkplugged by Mr. Best. Thousands of letters were sent out through the vice-president's and from the president's office to the membership. You may have received some of them. In addition to that, thousands of other letters were sent out to people who had responded to a story that appeared in Farm Journal wanting to know about the Association. I can't calculate how many went out, I have never been told, but I would guess about 5,000 of them. And those all went out from Mr. Best's office. In addition, our addressograph plate system was not in very good shape, due to the fact the organization was too poor to keep it up. Mr. Best supplied addressograph plates for the whole list.

I wrote to Mr. Best on April 27th, as I wanted all the bad news, and I wrote to some other people. I said, "You have not yet rendered a bill for postage on your mailing. Will you please make your request?" And he answered,

"I was surprised you asked about the postage charge from here. It has been my intent from the beginning of the campaign to carry the postage charge myself."

Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT BEST: Carl, I know you have done a lot of hard work, and I'd like to say for the organization that we do appreciate what you have done for us.

I see Mr. Slate has come in back here. Mr. Slate have you a word from the Publications Committee?

MR. SLATE: I have no formal report. The part of the Publications Committee with which I am concerned is the proceedings. The speed with which that job was done depends upon how fast the papers come in and the transcript of the proceedings finished. The transcript is rather complicated and a lot of things are said that shouldn't go into the report. It takes a lot of work with the blue pencil to boil the material down to something that's useful and worth paying a printing bill for.

One other thing that I should mention is the cost of mailing. I don't know whether that has been mentioned previously or not. We had a little difficulty with the Post Office Department. Carl Prell can tell you about that.

PRESIDENT BEST: Yes, he did. I have heard only good reports of your fine job. I think we all agree that it was a scholarly production.

Do we have anything from the Survey Committee?

Blossoming Habits of the Persian Walnut

H. F. STOKE, Roanoke, Va.

The Survey Committee, as its project for the current year, has undertaken a study of the blossoming habits of the Persian walnut. The prime object of this study is to solve the problem of pollination, so that the planter may be reasonably sure of a satisfactory crop, whether his planting be a single tree or an orchard.

While this study has dealt exclusively with the Persian species, Juglans regia, the habits and principles involved apply equally to all walnut species.

In most plants the reproductive function inheres in a single bisexual flower, consisting of both male and female elements. In walnuts, as well as most other nuts, the male and female functions are performed by unisexual flowers of very different type and appearance.

Both the male or staminate flower and the female or pistillate flower spring from buds that are formed in the axils at the base of leaves of the previous season's growth. In the Persian walnut they may be detected as early as July. The staminate bud that forms the pollen-producing catkin of the next season, can be distinguished by its checkered appearance, something like a tiny pine cone. They occur in the axils of the lower leaves of the shoot of the current season.

The pistillate bud, which produces the nut, occurs at or near the tip of the growth of the current season. It can usually be distinguished from leaf buds by its larger size and plumpness.

When these blossom buds develop the following season, the male or staminate blossom assumes the form of a catkin, which elongates rapidly a few days before maturity. As the pollen is shed, beginning at the stem end, the pale yellow-green of the bursted pollen capsule turns dark or black, proceeding to the tip of the catkin. This change readily shows that pollen is shedding, which may be confirmed by touching such a catkin with the tip of the finger, and noting the yellow pollen that adheres, or rises in a tiny cloud.

Making note of the date when a given variety begins shedding pollen, and the date when all catkins on the tree have opened, gives the period during which that variety is effective as a pollinizer.

The female, or pistillate flower, does not, like the catkin, spring directly from the wood of last season's growth, but occurs at the end of the new growth of the current year, being preceded by a number of leaves which nourish the young nut to maturity.

The pistillate blossom assumes the form of one or more tiny nutlets with little sharp-pointed tips. When the blossom has become receptive to pollen, each tip has separated into two separate pistils which spread apart and present fresh, slightly sticky surfaces, which are known as stigmas. This is the time that pollination can take place, which period continues until the stigmas have lost their freshness and stickiness. This period marks the time during which pollination can occur.

In many cases Persian walnut trees remain barren when planted alone, not because of incompatibility between the pollen and the pistillate flower, but because pollen shedding and receptivity do not occur at the same time. Sometimes pollen shedding is over before pistils are receptive. Such blooming is termed protandrous by botanists. In about an equal number of cases the pistils lose their receptivity before pollen is shed. Such blooming is termed protogynous. There are quite a number of varieties, however, that mature both types of blossoms simultaneously, in which the variety is self-fertile and will produce crops, even if isolated from other trees of the species. Of these Hanson and Bedford are representative. On some other trees there is some overlapping of the shedding and receptive periods, enough to produce partial, but not full crops.

Warm weather hastens blooming; cool cloudy weather retards it. A warm spell may start blossoming early, but if broken by a cool wave the period of bloom may be greatly extended.

A southern exposure with a light soil will cause a variety to blossom earlier by some days than in the same locality in heavy soil. The blossoming period is generally shorter in the North than in the South.

Climax, Michigan reports blooming beginning May 10 and ending May 31, a period of 21 days. Millerton, N. Y., and Massillon, Ohio, report the same.

Urbana, Ill., reports blooming beginning May 5 and ending June 1, a period of 27 days.

At Roanoke, Va., the period begins April 9 and ends May 10, running 31 days.

At Greensboro, North Carolina, the season began April 2 and ended May 5, a total of 33 days.

The report of Mr. Royal Oakes of Bluffs, Ill., is unique in the shortness of the blossoming period, both of individual varieties and as a whole. Blossoming began April 29 and ended (estimated) May 13, a period of only 14 days. The reason may partly lie in the weather and partly because the planting is on high bluffs overlooking the broad Illinois River valley, affording excellent air drainage.

One major difficulty the Committee encountered in tabulating the reports was the fact that so few of the same varieties were being grown by the various reporters, making it difficult and sometimes impossible to synchronize the blossoming period of the various varieties from different places with sufficient accuracy. Because of this, two tables have been prepared.

Table Number 1 shows named varieties, for the most part.

Table Number 2 shows varieties that are being propagated asexually, but have not yet been given variety names. Seedlings not propagated by budding or grafting, if recognized have been omitted because of individual variability.

Each table consists of five vertical columns, earliest to the right, successively later towards the left.

Varieties above the dividing line are shedding pollen at the time varieties in the same column below the line are receptive. A variety like Hanson, appearing in the same column both above and below the line, is self-pollinizing. Varieties appearing in more than one column indicate a long blooming period.

MR. BECKER: The Crath No. 1 I have been able to propagate is what Mr.
Neilson gave to me as Crath No. 1—I guess he called it Crath.

MR. STOKE: We may have to discard a number of other Crath No. 1's, because the variation between them indicates a mixture of several clones with the same name.

PRESIDENT BEST: The next thing to consider is this resolution which is given word for word on page 26 of our 1952 annual report.

TABLE 1.

———————————————————————————————————
Broadview Bijur Carpathian D Beckman Parnell
Lancaster Cutleaf S Bayer Bedford Watt
McDermid Fort Custer Beckman Caesar
[symbol: male] Hanson Breslau Etter
Hilltop Caesar Eureka
Ill. No. 23 Eureka Lake
Mundt Grande S-24
Metcalfe James
Lancaster
Littlepage
McKinster
———————————————————————————————————
Caesar Beckman Bijur Bayer Burtner
McKinster Bijur Cutleaf Bedford Dewey
Breslau Colby Broadview Etter
Fort Custer Fickes No. 22 Etter Eureka
Carpathian D Hanson Fort Custer Franquette
Colby Hilltop Grande Mayette
Cutleaf S Jacobs Ill. No. 23 L-2
[symbol: female] Fickes No. 22 James Lake
Hansen Lake Lancaster
Jacobs Lancaster Mundt
Keener S-24 S-24
McDermid Metcalfe Metcalfe
———————————————————————————————————

TABLE 2.

———————————————————————————————————
Early Medium early Midseason Medium late Late

S-6 S-6 S-12 S-22 S-17
[symbol: male] S-12 S-12 S-22 S-24 S-57
S-33 S-66 S-24 S-25
Littlepage S-XD S-25 S-29
S-29 S-32
S-33 S-41
S-35 S-45
S-66 S-66
S-XD
———————————————————————————————————
S-5 S-5 S-6 S-6 S-7
[symbol: female] S-25 S-17 S-17 S-12 S-12
S-29 S-22 S-22 S-17 S-33
S-32 S-24 S-32 S-35
S-35 S-25 S-38 S-46
S-66 S-29 S-41 S-57
S-35 S-45 Littlepage
S-38 S-46
S-41 S-48
S-45 S-XD
S-48 Littlepage
S-XD
Littlepage
———————————————————————————————————

It was made by Mr. Dowell of the Ohio group, although it is of interest to every state that has an affiliated group or a chapter. Last year the matter was referred to the Board for their consideration. The Board carefully considered the resolution of the Ohio group, and the spirit of the Dowell resolution, was approved.

The matter was finally left with a committee made up of J. C. McDaniel, Mr. Carl Prell and Mr. Machovina. It is now in order to hear from these men the changes necessary in our by-laws to create the right atmosphere for the formation and operation of our state organizations, because we do want to encourage them. After hearing the proposals, a motion will be in order that they be approved. If approved, a year from now we will vote on the amendments to the by-laws. Mr. McDaniel will give the report of the committee.

DR. MACDANIEL: Your committee agreed on the suggested revision of Section IX, which covers chapters and affiliations. If this meets with the approval of the members here, final action must be deferred until the 45th annual meeting. Proposed amended Section IX of the by-laws reads as follows:

"Section IX.—Chapters and Affiliations.

"Article 1. The Association shall encourage the formation of regional groups of its members into chapters, which may elect their own officers and organize local field days and other programs. Such chapters need not limit their membership to members of the parent organization. They may publish their proceedings and selected papers in the proceedings of the parent society subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications.

"Article 2. Any independent association or society interested in nut tree culture may affiliate with the Northern Nut Growers Association by payment of an annual affiliation fee of $5.00. Selected papers presented at the meetings of such an affiliated society may be published in the proceedings of this society subject to review of the Association's Committee on Publications."

It is the thought of this special committee that the new wording simplifies and clarifies these two articles in regard to organization of chapters or sections, and second, affiliation of independent organizations. We thought we shouldn't limit it to affiliation of nut growers associations as such but to extend affiliation possibility to any society from garden club on up which is interested in nut growing. And under Article 1, whether we call this state group a chapter or a section doesn't seem to matter materially. I believe the Michigan group prefers to be called a chapter. The Ohio group, I think, will take it either way. At the present I think we have called that the Ohio Section of the Northern Nut Growers Association.

Any discussion? I submit this proposed amendment, Mr. President, to be printed in the 44th annual report for action at next year's meeting, the 45th annual meeting of this Association.

PRESIDENT BEST: Do we have a motion to accept the report? (The motion to accept was made by Dr. Crane, seconded and passed without dissent.)

PRESIDENT BEST: I was in hopes that we wouldn't have time for the next feature, but since some of the committees haven't reported yet, I am afraid that we have. That is the address by the president.

President's Address

RICHARD B. BEST, Eldred, Ill.

The task of setting down ideas for the reflection of the NNGA fills me with consternation. My scanty rills of thinking are inadequate.

You remember the old Arabian tale of the poor student who was shut up in an enchanted room in the bosom of the earth. You remember how the earth opened only once each year. The student was waited upon by demons and spirits who furnished deep and dark knowledge. When the door opened, the student emerged, loaded with great lore and pertinent facts. Like this Arabian student, by delving into antiquity and our old annual reports of the NNGA, I have put together some thoughts from men living and dead.

Irving says: this pilfering disposition which some of us have may be implanted in us for a good reason. Maybe through us pilferers or borrowers, Heaven takes care of the seeds of knowledge and wisdom from age to age. The worthwhile thoughts which some of our early members gave us may be purloined by me and made to sparkle again in today's light, even though the early members' general idea is obsolete.

So, just as nature has provided for the distribution of her plant varieties through the maws of birds and animals, so it may be that Heaven has provided for the fine thoughts of our old members to be caught by us predatory individuals and made to bear fruit again in this new day. Really this is one way we exist and go forward in our organization.

A crop of "tares" which we read about in the scripture enriches the soil for the next crop. As a forest dies, a new crop of trees spring up. Even a dead tree gives rise to a whole creation of countless bacteria and fungi.

So on "ad infinitum." Members who have talked and studied our problems in the past have made possible our work here today. So, likewise, our words will sleep with the others from whom we have borrowed. So, to escape with a good conscience, to avoid having fingers pointed at me, of hearing cries of—"you stole this from me," I will try to give credit where credit is due.

Otherwise, I might be, figuratively speaking, stripped of my material here piece by piece, and I would finally stand before you with hardly a loin cloth of an idea which I could call my own.

There is a popular appeal to the nut business which most of us are susceptible to,—like wanting to produce large nuts,—and of seeing the first nut,—and to again gather nuts like we did as children. Ask a man how large a nut he found and he will lie as he will about a fish he has just caught.

Then, there is the romantic visionary who would transform the whole universe into a sort of fairyland nut grove—where there are no insects, diseases, or squirrels,—and where the nuts fall polished into open bags.

Then, there are those of us—and I am one—who reasoning that the "groves were God's first temples," flee to a twilight hill top or to a forest shade, and, as Mr. Stokes said, "Sit humbly at the feet of the great mother of us all. There is wisdom and healing in the shadow of her wings."

We need this philosophical attitude to generate encouragement and inspiration to withstand the hard knocks that we have had—and will have coming. But, the NNGA must be more realistic and really do some grappling.

Read the experiences which all our reports are filled with. Mr. G. A. Miller on page 99 of the 1940 report handles this matter of success and failure very well. We live on our successes and not on our failures. Nut culture is pioneering, and it is well to be fully aware of the possibility of failure so that we may be steeled for it when it comes. Failure makes our successes sweeter.

Abraham Lincoln's life was a series of failures. Thomas Edison usually failed. Plant breeders at our stations nearly always fail. But, once in a while they succeed. In the nut business, if we succeed 1 in 10,000 times, success may be cheap at that.

Dr. MacDaniels stated so many important aspects of the NNGA that I want to list his outline here and then simply hang some thoughts on the skeleton of his report. For your own enjoyment and understanding, please read again Dr. MacDaniels's address "The Forward Look," which is found on page 27 of our 1952 report. I just mention his subjects and comment on them for emphasis.

1. Variety Evaluation

The Ohio Nut Growers did a fine job of getting this job of evaluation in the groove. Read about it on page 29 of the 1946 report. How many of us here have wasted years on varieties that good evaluation might have discarded, before we started to plant the nut.

2. Judging Standards

Which covers such things as—

(a) Sealing of nuts (b) Recovery of halves (c) Size, quality, etc.

Evaluation and judging include all those fine things we look for in a nut.

3. The Naming of Varieties

Many of us have the same tree growing but calling it a different name.

4. Securing New Varieties

And getting them into as many channels. Mr. Wilkinson started several "Chief" pecan trees last year and gave them all away. Chief is a fine new variety of pecan. If we had a few more Ford Wilkinsons in this organization, "God bless him," we wouldn't have so many problems.

5. The Work of Individuals

There is always the possibility of finding the "perfect nut," so we need to continue our search through the earth for better varieties.

Scientific techniques must be applied before we breed better nuts.

We simply cannot have nuts put in our coffins expecting to continue our work in the next world; so we need to do the next best thing to this—that is of instructing our sons in the little we have found and where our different varieties are planted. Then, some of our sons will start where we left off.

Private research is playing a more important part in the world today. Private research, using the large amount of basic research available, could accomplish wonders in the nut world.

I am deeply grieved when I see vast estates which have had a fortune spent in plantings that had little practical value. The men who spent this money would gladly have furnished the land, labor, capital and management for a nut breeding program had we been there to have sold them on nut trees.

As Mr. Churchill said—"Too little and too late."

But members of the NNGA forget "what might have been." New estates are developing and younger men are wondering how they can immortalize their lives and work. Men pass away; their names perish from record and recollection; their history is only a tale and their tombstone becomes a ruin, but a good nut tree bearing a man's name, gives that name immortality.

6. Work of the Experiment Stations.

In the most practical vein, our basic research and most of our actual breeding must still be done by our Experiment Stations.

Any nut project is a long-time program and it lends itself best to an Experiment Station which is not set up on "a three score and ten" basis like we as individuals are. Stations also have trained workers and information at hand.

7. The Real Aim of the NNGA

Is better living on the farm and the improvement of the garden and farmstead. Almost every farm and home, especially in the great corn belt, needs shelter, shade trees, and the beautifying effect of trees.

Psalm 19:1-4 says: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night showeth knowledge. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world."

8. Nut Growing as a Hobby.

For people who like to see things growing, there are few projects that yield more genuine satisfaction than hardy-adapted varieties of nut trees.

Few people know what a heart nut or chestnuts are, and most have never cracked a butternut. Most of us have never tasted a good persimmon, and the paw-paw is practically unknown. We of the NNGA have something to offer our members.

9. Keep our Organization Solvent and Functioning.

All costs have increased. Our strength lies in our letters, reports and information which we send to our membership. To keep this information coming through letters and our annual report takes money.

10. How to Finance the NNGA. Dr. MacDaniels makes the following suggestions after stating that we have reached the point where increasing the dues will not give us more income, because of loss of membership.

(a) Increase our number of members.
(b) Provide different types of membership to encourage contributions.
(c) Gifts.
(d) Special fund raising projects.

Increasing the membership seems to have the most promise in the future.

We are now at the cross roads. Do we want a strong, hard-hitting organization, capable of doing these things which we know NNGA can do, or do we want to ease down the other road to a whimpering senile existence, in the plant society world?

We have increased our membership 40% the past year, and after hurriedly congratulating ourselves, let us hurry on to this problem of setting ourselves another goal for 1954.

What shall our new goal be? 30%, 50%, 100%—let us think "high." It is easier to come down than to go higher.

I'd like to have someone's idea in the audience here. Does anybody have some figure we should hit at? 10%, 20%, 25%?

MR. KINTZEL: I think since we have a thousand members, for each of the thousand to bring in one more member and make it a hundred per cent.

PRESIDENT BEST: Now, the high man is going to win here, you know. Is there anyone that can raise this man, that can say that we increase our membership more than a hundred per cent? If not shall we take that as a goal?

We have now reached the point in this discussion of goals where we can make the following profound deduction—"Nothing is worth two cents until it is sold."

Our church bells ring to tell the world that something good is being offered and that the church has something to sell. Everything in this world must be sold. The NNGA is competing not only with the resistance people offer it, but also against every other human activity. People buy what they think will give them the most satisfaction.

We are living in a cold-blooded society and people are not going to choke with emotion when we mention the old hollow tree where the possums hatched, or the wide spreading chestnut. People may not even want to join our NNGA. This is a free country and people can just sit in the sun on the bare ground if they want to. They may not want trees and can eat grape nuts if they want. We know they need the hobby—the shade—the beauty—the protection or even nuts which nut trees will bring them.

Because we know people need these fine things, then we must ask them to join the NNGA. If everybody knew what you know about the NNGA, we would have a membership of 100,000 members. But they do not.

This is what we mean by selling our organization. Indirectly as we sell our memberships to help other people, we help our organization.

Finally, let me suggest that we build up a backlog of ideas here at
Rochester to add to what we have on increasing our membership.

Give your ideas to our Vice President, Mr. George Salzer and his publicity committee and you will be helping to solve our NNGA problems.

MR. DAVIDSON: It seems to me the most successful thing that was done during the past year, as far as the raising of membership was concerned, was done by Mr. Chase, when he wrote that article on Persian walnuts that survived sub-zero temperatures. That had a tremendous impact on the public imagination, and it got a tremendous number of inquiries. I think it had more effect than even the work of individual members, so I would suggest that anybody who has an idea that can be sent to a magazine that would have a public appeal should do that thing.

MR. MACHOVINA: The thought strikes me that in addition to the goal for new members, we should also work to keep these members we have picked up this year. That means the older members should contact the newer members, help them, give them trees. Otherwise, a lot can be lost quickly.

PRESIDENT BEST: In this world no matter whether we are selling seed corn—if you will pardon that little plug—or you are running a restaurant or any form of human activity, you can figure each year about a 10 per cent loss in your clientelle or your customers, whatever you want to call them, and we of N.N.G.A. are no exception to that rule. We do have to keep working for that replacement; otherwise, in 10 or 12 years we are going to be out of business entirely.

MR. KERR: I am a Spanish War veteran. At the national convention in Portland, Oregon, in 1938, one of my comrades showed me a walnut tree that he planted before he went to the Philippines during that war. It was on the banks of the Willamette River where he had planted three nuts. Two were so near the river that a log boom had torn them out, but one was left. It was 80 feet high, four feet in diameter, and on one occasion had produced almost a ton of very good nuts.

I told that to the science editor of the Associated Press, and he put a little article in the local paper, but no picture. If he had a picture with that article, everybody would have read it. I think we need more publicity on these old trees that are bearing nuts. I live in Plymouth, Mass., where the Pilgrims settled. In their settlement papers they mentioned the groves of walnuts and other wild nuts in the territory. We found a low-branched walnut 5 feet in diameter and over 450 years old.

MR. BROOK: Let me suggest Mr. Kerr write such an article for such a magazine, because he is just the person.

MR. KERR: I have already written a few articles for several men's clubs, and I am writing another article.

MR. BROOK: When are you releasing it?

MR. KERR: Pretty soon. The Northern Nut Growers will get a copy.

PRESIDENT BEST: The report of the Place of Meeting Committee, Mr.
Allaman?

MR. ALLAMAN: A year ago this summer I went to Lancaster to visit the Franklin Marshall College to see if we could hold our convention there next year. They considered it quite an honor to have us there, feeling that it is an educational feature. They can furnish us a nice auditorium with a cafeteria nearby. Sleeping quarters would be scattered throughout the grounds. They can furnish our meals and a banquet. About ten days ago I checked to see if things were still all right, and they said, "Come ahead," so I am suggesting that the Association hold its next annual convention at Lancaster, Pa. at Franklin Marshall College.

Our field trip at Lancaster would be to Mr. W. W. Posey's orchard. He has by far the biggest planting in the state with trees of various ages and many different varieties. He entertained the Pennsylvania group a year ago. He has a nice pavilion up on the hill, where we can have our lunch. We had a most enjoyable time, and he is delighted to have us. Mr. Posey is owner of the Posey Iron Works in Lancaster.

For 1955 we were thinking about Michigan, probably Michigan State
College. For the following year we were wondering about Connecticut.
Just the place in Connecticut has not been given any thought.

Session adjourned.