  By Prof. E. R. Lake, U. S. Department of Agriculture A nut is a seed, and a seed, normally, is an embryo plant asleep. To keep a nut-seed asleep and safely resting against the favorable time when it may awake, arise and go forth, as a vigorous seedling bent upon a career of earth conquest, requires no great or unusual attention and care save that which is necessary to maintain such conditions as will insure the complete maturing, ripening and curing of the seed, its protection against the ravages of rodents or other nut-eating animals, undue moisture and an unfavorably high temperature. In other words harvest the nuts as soon after they are mature as is possible, insure their complete curing, store them where they will be kept constantly so cool that germination cannot take place, and some nuts, as the black walnut and butternut, may germinate at a temperature just above zero (centigrade(?) Ed.) and keep them moist enough to prevent undue hardening of the tissues or enclosing structures (shell), at the same time prevent them from becoming saturated with moisture and thus rotting. Summarized, these conditions are: (a) a temperature just too low for vegetative activity. (b) A moisture content of the nut just below turgidity. (c) An immunity against ants, rats, mice and squirrels. Curing. A man-devised method for hastening the ripening of a matured seed or fruit, is usually carried on in a more or less enclosed space where the moisture and temperature conditions are kept carefully regulated, or in a place where the seeds are kept away from direct contact with sunlight and the earth. Ordinarily, the nuts are placed in trays 2" to 3" deep, 2' to 2-1/2' wide and 5' to 6' long. The bottom tray is then placed upon a pair of sawhorses or other device, in a shady place and 2' to 2-1/2' above the ground then the other trays are placed on and above the first one until all the nuts are in the tier of trays, or until it is 2' to 3' tall. Sometimes a current of heated, circulating air is used to doubly hasten the curing process, but this practice is to be discouraged as too often the undue heating of the nut germ while in this stage of ripening injures it, and thus the nuts are rendered unfit for reproduction. The nuts in the trays should be frequently stirred or turned over during the first week or ten days while curing. In the case of chestnuts, the crop should be harvested as soon as possible after the first nuts fall so that the damage from weevils may be kept at a minimum. Immediately after the nuts are surface-dried they should be treated to an application of carbon disulphide, one ounce to a tightly closed capacity content of an apple barrel; time of treatment about 24 hours. While this treatment probably will not kill all the weevils it will insure a much larger percentage of germination than there would be otherwise. After fumigating the nuts should be spread out on wire-cloth bottom trays and placed under a shed or trees, where a free circulation of air will in a few days sufficiently cure the nuts, so that they may be stratified and set away in a pit in the ground on the north side of a building, wall, hedge-row or evergreen trees, thus insuring them ample moisture and protection against sudden changes of temperatures and the ravages of rodents and other pests. Other nuts of the temperate zone may, in a general way, be treated without any special care other than that required to keep them from getting moist and warm, or destroyed by rodents or other nut-eating animals, or by fungous troubles. On the whole probably the best method of treatment for the amateur or small grower of seedling nut trees, is to stratify the nuts as soon as harvested, assuming that the nuts have been fairly well cured by a few days' exposure to drying air currents. Stratification consists in layering the nuts in clean, sharp sand, light loam or sawdust and placing them in a cold, moist place, as a well drained and shaded north hillside, where their contact with the soil and protection from the direct rays of the sun will insure complete dormancy and at the same time prevent the development of fungous troubles. To this end the common practice is to dig a somewhat shallow trench and place in it, one layer deep, the "flats" in which the nuts are stratified. The flat usually employed is a shallow, wooden box in which the bottom is provided with ample, narrow drainage cracks and the top covered with wire cloth that will keep out mice or larger rodents. Not infrequently the bottom is a wire cloth one instead of wood. Dimensions of the flats vary, somewhat, but a convenient size is 30" long, 15"-16" wide, 3"-4" deep, sides ends and bottom being made of lumber strips (creosoted for preservation purposes) 3\4" thick and 3"-4" wide. In these flats the nuts are placed layer upon layer, with sand, loam or sawdust between, something as follows: one inch of sand or other medium on the bottom, then a single layer of nuts, another inch layer of sand, etc., until the flat is full, when it is covered with the wire cloth, placed in the trench, covered with a few inches to a foot of leaves, moist hay, cornstalks or even soil, and left for the winter. At the time the medium for layering the nuts is being prepared, it will be well, if ants are present in the section where the nuts are to be stored, or later placed in nursery bed, to mix a liberal percentage of unleached wood ashes with the sand, sawdust or loam, say one part in five, more or less. Other flats are placed alongside or end to end in the trench until the stock is all in, when the whole may be covered uniformly. The layer of leaves or hay next to the wire cover of the flats assists in the work of uncovering when the inspections are made for the purpose of ascertaining the state of dormancy or germination. One step more and the seed stage passes into the province of the seedling. As soon as the stratified nuts begin to germinate they should be removed from the flats and planted in the nursery or propagating bed. The site for this purpose should be one that is well drained, open to air and sunshine and possessing a clean, fine, mellow and rather light loamy soil. The size of this plat will vary to meet the needs of the quantity of nuts in hand and should be prepared, preferably the fall before, by stirring the soil deeply and thoroughly working into it a goodly supply of well rotted stable compost. The rows for hand culture may be 18"-30" apart; for loose hoeing, 3' to 3-1/2' and should lie along north and south lines. The distance and depth of the nuts in the row will vary with their size. In general, one may say that a nut should be planted the length of the lateral diameter below the surface of the soil, when it has settled, or about double that depth when the soil is freshly worked over it. The distance apart in the row will vary somewhat with the rapidity of growth of the species; six to eight inches being a fair average for walnuts and chestnuts, and 4 to 6 for hickories and pecans. Fifteenth Annual Convention of the Northern Nut Growers' Association, New York City, Species Variety Exhibitor Address Origin 1. Black walnut J. A. Neilson Vineland, Ont. St. Thomas, Ont. 2. Black walnut " " " " " Niagara-on-Lake. 3. Black walnut Walsh " " " " " Simcoe, Ont. 4. Black walnut " " " " " Electric, Ont. 5. Black walnut " " " " " Villoria, Ont. 6. Black walnut Ohio J. F. Jones Lancaster, Pa. 7. Black walnut Stabler " " " " " 8. Black walnut Thomas " " " " " 9. Persian walnut J. A. Neilson Vineland, Ont. Carpathian Mts. 10. Persian walnut " " " " " Grimsley, Ont. 11. Persian walnut " " " " " St. Catherines, Ont. 12. Persian walnut Alpine J. F. Jones Lancaster, Pa. 13. Persian walnut Mayette seedling " " " " " 14. Persian walnut Sinclair " " " " " 15. Persian walnut Wiltz Mayette " " " " " 16. Heartnut J. A. Neilson Vineland, Ont. Near Jordon, Ont. 17. Heartnut " " " " " Near Hamilton, Ont. 18. Heartnut " " " " " Near Scotland, Ont. 19. Heartnut Faust J. F. Jones Lancaster, Pa. 20. Heartnut Lancaster " " " " " 21. Heartnut Ritchey " " " " " 22. Sieboldiana walnut J. A. Neilson Vineland, Ont. Hamilton, Ont. 23. Sieboldiana walnut " " " " " OAC Campus, Guelph. 24. Shagbark J. A. Neilson Vineland, Ont. Electric, Ont. 25. Shagbark " " " " " Norfolk Co., Ont. 26. Shagbark hybrid Beaver J. F. Jones Lancaster, Pa. 27. Shagbark hybrid Siers " " " " " 28. Pecan J. A. Neilson Vineland, Ont. 15 miles N. of Toronto 29. Almond " " " " " Gellatly, B. C. 30. Filbert Tray of mixed " " " " " Gellatly, B. C. 31. Filbert White aveline J. F. Jones Lancaster, Pa. 32. Filbert Barcelona " " " " " 33. Filbert Cosford " " " " " 34. Filbert Daviana " " " " " 35. Filbert Du Chilly " " " " " 36. Filbert Giant de Halle " " " " " 37. Filbert Italian Red " " " " " 38. Filbert Merribrooke " " " " " 39. Filbert Noci Lunghe " " " " " 40. Filbert Rush " " " " " 42. Filbert hybrid Rush x Barcelona " " " " " 43. Filbert hybrid Rush x Barcelona " " " " " 44. Filbert hybrid Rush x Barcelona " " " " " 45. Filbert hybrid Rush Cosford " " " " " 46. Filbert hybrid Rush Cosford " " " " " 47. Filbert hybrid Rush Giant de Halle " " " " " 48. Filbert hybrid Rush Giant de Halle " " " " " 49. Filbert hybrid Rush Giant de Halle " " " " " 50. Filbert hybrid Rush Italian Red " " " " " 51. Photograph—Walnut-cracking machine Black Walnut Company, 509-11-13, Spruce St., St. Louis, Mo. 52. Budding Knife [Transcriber's note: No. 41 is missing in the original] Among those present at the Fifteenth Annual Convention of the Northern Dr. N. L. Britton, Director of the N. Y. Botanical Gardens. |
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