Excursion of Friday, September 5, 1924

Arriving at Stamford, all guests and members were met at the station by cars from Dr. Morris' place. After coming together at the house, the members followed Dr. Morris to the main gateway, where the following program commenced:

DR. MORRIS: If you will all follow me here inside the gateway we will take the trees as they come in the order of the mimeographed sheet which you hold.

I will first say that the abnormalities at Merribrooke this year were three in number. First, a destructive invasion of the tent caterpillar which attacked nearly all kinds of trees during its traveling stage. Then came a canker worm invasion with partial or complete defoliation of even the forest trees. Almost all of the whole leaves on any tree represent the second set for the season. Then came a drought said to have been the most severe since 1871. As a result of these three influences most of the fruit trees and nut trees dropped their crops this year.

Among the many introduced and grafted trees at Merribrooke only about one hundred typical forms have been tagged for this occasion. The large tags on the trees represent types, the smaller tags represent different variations of the type. Numbers on the tags correspond to numbers on this list.

We will begin with No. 1—Original Taylor Shagbark hickory. Nut large, thin shelled, good cleavage and high quality. This is practically an annual bearer. The weevil likes it because it is very thin-shelled. Consequently we seldom get a good crop. Most of the trees were defoliated. This is the best all-around hickory that I have found. I gave prizes for years and got seedlings from all over the country, and this is the best one that I obtained growing right here at my gate. It is defoliated by both the tent caterpillar and the canker worm.

2. Buckley Hickory from Texas. Nut large, round, thick-shelled, peculiar flavor and fragrance. This hickory was first described in 1872 in Texas and then it was forgotten. Dr. Sargent was quite surprised when I told him that I had one for the variety really passed out of history among the botanists until the past two years. The bark is deeply ridged in the older trees. The tree has been crippled by the twig girdler this year.

3. Carolina Hickory Seedling (scaly bark hickory). Nut small, thin shelled, sweet. I think this is one of the most beautiful hickories we have. It has been crippled this year but not enough to hurt. It has a small, thin-shelled nut with sweet flavor. The older trees have the scale on the bark.

4. Carolina Hickory grafted upon other local wild stock, and I do not know whether it is macrocarpa or pignut.

5. Shagbark top-worked to Vest variety of shagbark from Virginia that Mr. Bixby described yesterday as having a shell so thin that it could be cracked with the hand.

6. Shagbark top-worked to Carolina and Kentucky varieties. Note the different foliage, and smaller leaves. Here is a graft of three hickories on one stock.

7. Shagbark top-worked to Vest shagbark above and to McCallister pecan below. The foliage of this McCallister would justify putting the tree in any grounds; but here on the shagbark stock the leaves are not so large. The foliage on Mr. Bixby's was large and beautiful.

8. Shagbark top-worked to Brooks shagbark. That tree prolongs the name of one of our audience into history.

9. Asiatic Winged Walnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia). I think this would be valuable for hybridizing.

10. Grafted Woodall American (black) walnut. Nut small, thin shelled. Tree very prolific. This tree has not yet borne, but it should next year. I got that from a man near Milford, Del. The nut is thin-shelled and cracks very easily.

11. Grafted Lutz American Walnut from North Carolina. This tree is about six years from the graft. The nut is large.

QUESTION: When do you have frosts here at Stamford?

DR. MORRIS: The frosts are from about the middle of September until sometime in May. Sometimes we miss the September frosts.

12. Korean Nut Pine. Furnishes important food supply in northern Asia.

13. Grafted Papaw. Larger part Ketter variety. Prize fruits have weighed about one pound each. Smaller part Osborn variety No. 3, a choice kind.

14. Seedling Papaw.

15. Seedling Papaw, christened "Merribrooke prolific" with clusters of fruit of the first year's bearing. Five bunches on the tree and it is the first year out from the nursery. It is a very beautiful tree for the lawn.

The growing season of pawpaws is so long that a hard September frost may catch the fruit before it is ripe in this locality. Fruit will stand a light frost only.

16. Chinese Pistache seedling. Tree beautiful but nut too small for the market. May serve for hybridizing purposes. The autumn foliage of this tree is very wonderful.

17. Grafted Wolfe persimmon. Ripens fruit in July or August. This is an ordinary size fruit but the peculiarity is that it ripens before the others do.

18. Grafted Cannaday seedless persimmon. You see another member of our party has gone down to fame with this Cannaday seedless persimmon.

19. Stanley shellbark hickory grafted on shagbark stock.

20. Stock grafted to Kentucky shagbark.

21. Jeffrey Blue Bull Nut Pine. Nuts small, thin-shelled, rich. Eaten shell and all by the natives. This is one of the most beautiful of pines. In the top of the tree is placed one of the large gourds which I raise here on the place. I place these gourds in the tree-tops for bird-houses. All kinds of birds nest in them, from the chickadee to the barred duck. A squash may be used for this purpose as well as a gourd.

I raise the pines from seed.

22. Torrey nut pine from southern California. Nut is large, and has a fine flavor. I get my seeds from Bartner Brothers. Pines do not do so well near cities. The sulphites in the air are picked up by the pines and this kills them. This particular pine is a surprise to all botanists who have seen it; it is native in California and is one of the disappearing pines. I have had five of them and I raised them all from seed.

23. Chinese hazel. Grafted on common hazel and outgrowing it, The Chinese hazel makes a tree from 80 to 100 feet in height. This is the first year this tree has borne. It is grafted on common stock, and is beginning to bear earlier than it would have done on its own roots.

24. Butternut parthenogens. Some are large and some small but all are grown under the same conditions. That one was defoliated by the canker worm and then by the tent caterpillar and this is the fourth set of leaves it has put forth this year.

25. Hybrid walnut (Siebold x butternut) four years old.

26. Grafted American walnut. Peanut variety. Only one chubby half of kernel to each shell. The scions were sent here from Washington, D. C.

27. Mediate shagbark grafts (Cook variety). Grafted July 10 in midst of great drought. Compare this with the trees you will see farther on in the walk, grafted near the end of the drought. I do not have much trouble with the plain splice graft and I expect it to start ten days after I put it in.

Here is the way I treat a borer, although I have two or three ways of doing this. First I find a hole on the tree, like this one. Then I follow down to where the borers work. I cut that part away, inject chloroform and fill up the opening with common kitchen soap.

28. American Chestnut. Merribrooke variety, root-grafted on Japanese chestnut. I grafted that very low, below the ground. It is the best chestnut I have among several thousands that I planted. This tree was one of the first to go down with the blight, but I have grafted on other scions and have kept it going ever since.

29. Dresher chestnut (European origin) grafted on Japanese chestnut. The graft is about three years old. It has borne since the first year. There are several nuts on it now.

(Now we must be careful of the sharp stubs in the woods. These are newly cut brush paths, and all guests wearing low shoes should step carefully).

30. Stanley shellbark hickory, grafted on pignut hickory. Mr. Jones introduced this hickory.

31. Kentucky shagbark grafted on shagbark stock, with bark slot graft. I let another twig grow from the same lead for nourishment. I put in three grafts here two of which are dead. I do not quite approve of that method. I prefer now to go up to the small branches and then splice-graft on small branches.

32. Marquardt pecan grafted on stock of pignut. It does well on this hickory.

33. Hardy, hard-shell almond.

34. Woodall American walnut. This shows that the Woodall black walnut grows fairly well on butternut stock.

35. Shagbark hickory top-worked to Marquardt pecan.

36. Staminate persimmon trees.

37. Bony Bush filbert, grafted on common hazel. (Bush badly cut up by girdler beetle. Elaphidion. Five nuts on the bush).

38. Purple hazel. Look sharp to find the 20 nuts on this bush. This tree is about 5 years old.

39. Four large bitternut-hickory trees, top-worked to Beaver hybrid. Beaver branches distinguished by larger leaves and fewer leaflets. Stock shoots will be cut out gradually, allowing Beaver to have entire tree finally.

40. Bitternut hickory top-worked to Marquardt pecan.

41. Hybrid walnut. (Siebold x Persian). Tree riddled by walnut weevil every year hopelessly.

42. Taylor shagbark hickory grafted on shagbark stock. I fill the cavities with paraffin and turpentine. There are three or four nuts left in the top of the tree. The tree has borne nuts for three years.

43. Pinus edulis.

44. Marquardt pecan on bitternut.

45. Dead hybrid hickory, grafted to Beaver hybrid. Grafts made enormous growth in first year—10 feet for some grafts. All blew out in one minute of hurricane in advance of thunder storm.

46. Bartlett hazel grafted on common hazel. There are a number of dead ends, caused by a small worm you can hardly see.

47. Chinese chestnut. Blighted at foot of trunk but the tree continues to bear.

48. Garritson persimmon. Best of all varieties called seedless, but the large staminate tree nearby spoils that feature. It is about five years old, and bears very regularly and heavily. The stock came from Mr. Jones.

49. Early Golden persimmon. Carries one graft of Everhart seedless variety on lowest large branch.

50. Hybrid walnut. Juglans nigra. I do not remember which parent I used.

51. Pignolia nut pine. Pignolia pinea. It is a seedling. You can buy pignolia nuts in Europe for food everywhere.

52. Hardy soft-shelled almond. I do not know the variety as the label is lost; but the tree was put there about 3 or 4 years ago. It came from the Government.

58. Deming purple walnut. I think Dr. Deming can best tell you about this.

DR. DEMING: It grows on the side of the road between Norwalk and Danbury, where the very large black walnut tree is, 15 feet in circumference, said to be the largest in Connecticut. This purple variety has nuts with a brownish red involucre showing sharply against the green leaves. The young foliage is purplish red, and the cambium and the pellicle of the kernels are purple. It is a very fair nut and the tree is very striking when it starts in spring with the beautiful tufts of leaves.

DR. MORRIS: It may be a valuable wood for cabinet-makers. Every part of the wood is purple. There are two purple trees. The smaller tree is evidently a seedling of the larger.

54. Young Major pecan.

55. Webb Persian walnut on American walnut stock. The nuts are enormous and of Alpine type of good quality. You saw some of these yesterday among those brought in by Prof. Neilson. You sometimes see these in the French market where they are called "Argonne." I picked this up in Greenwood. It has many nuts this year and this is the second crop of leaves.

56. Busseron pecan. This had a full crop of flowers this year, both staminate and pistillate.

57. Appomattox pecan, from the James River in Virginia. This and four other kinds of pecans would have borne nuts this year excepting for defoliation. It is a handsome tree and will bear next year.

58. Seedling filbert. About six years old.

59. Daviana filbert from Europe. Many people call them "hazels," but I think we should call them "filberts."

60. Josephine persimmon. It has borne heavily every year except this year. It still has some leaves left. Some people are very fond of the fruit. I do not like that as well as the Garretson. It is a big persimmon and a very good one. The fruit stays on until late November and December. I think the Garretson is the best persimmon I have ever had.

61. Lambert persimmon. Largest fruited American kind.

62. Japanese persimmon, planted between the rocks for protection from wind in winter, and from heat in summer. Hardy now for two years but of slow growth.

63. Beaver grafted on bitternut.

64. Weiker hybrid hickory on shagbark stock.

65. European filbert grafted upon common hazel stock. The squirrels have lived on it. I can count 7 nuts left. I made grafts more than a foot long. It was planted three years ago. I could show you several hundred trees bearing heavily this year, and on all of them we lost the first crop of leaves.

66. Beaver grafted Nov. 5, 1922, on bitternut.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Will they live when grafted at any time throughout the year?

DR. MORRIS: I would not be afraid to graft anything at any time of the year.

67. Taylor shagbark grafted July 21, 1924. Probably mockernut stock. Growth slow but sure.

68. Wild beak hazel. Nuts not so good as those of common hazel.

69. Bitternut top-worked to Beaver.

70. Hazel, patch-grafted here and there with Bony Bush filbert. The larger and darker leaves are Bony Bush.

71. Leonard shagbark grafted on stock probably shagbark. Nut very small, thin shelled, highest quality and keeps for four years without becoming rancid.

72. Shagbark top-worked to Taylor variety, but only a few grafts. Too much work for a tree of this size.

73. Pleas hybrid pecan on butternut stock.

74. Bitternut top-worked to Beaver.

75. Here is a very interesting object lesson. No. 74 is a bitternut top-worked to Beaver, and all doing well. The same day, with the same graft, I top-worked this pignut. The pignut refused the graft and died insulted. But another stock from the same root accepted Marquardt.

76. Bitternut stock accepting Marquardt pecan tardily.

77. Here is another form of borer. I treat them in this way: Cut away a little of the hole, pour in the chloroform and stop up the hole with soap. That will kill all of the borers in the tree.

78. Grafts of Laney hybrid hickory on bitternut.

79. Group of four filberts—not blighting, but not thriving this year or last. Reason unknown. Soil is heavy clay hardpan near top. Top swampy in spring.

80. Taylor shagbark on bitternut.

81. Taylor shagbark on shagbark stock.

82. Bitternut grafted to Lucado pecan. Grafts grew well for two summers, but died in second winter.

83. One poor graft of pecan on bitternut.

84. Pleas hybrid pecan.

85. Merribrooke chestnut grafted upon Chinese chestnut sprouts.

DR. ZIMMERMAN: Have you been able to bud chestnuts successfully?

DR. MORRIS: Yes.

86. Daviana filbert.

87. Hybrid hazel. (Colurna x Americana).

88. Avellana hazel. Variety Contorta.

89. Siebold walnut. Parthenogen.

90. Hybrid chinkapin. (C. pumila x C. dentata). Grafted to another hybrid, but stock now blighting.

91. One of a series of chinkapins, natural or hybrids, grafted over to other hybrids or to the Merribrooke variety of American sweet chestnut. Some are blighting.

92. Original Bony-Bush hazel. Blighting moderately. Treatment for blight not followed because of wish to note the degree of resistance.

That bush was named by Dr. J. Russell Smith. The nut is remarkably thin shelled, very long and curious in form.

93. Chinkapin, not grafted. These bear heavily every year notwithstanding the blight. From the same root common chinkapin will keep on bearing year after year. When one stock blights another takes its place so that heavy continuous bearing is the rule.

94. Original No. 1 Morris hybrid chinkapin. (C. pumila x C. dentata). Nuts of size and quality of American sweet chestnut. Tree blighted in its 13th year after bearing crops for 8 or 9 years. New stump sprouts now growing.

(Note: At this time, the guests were called to the lawn back of the house, where a luncheon was served by Mrs. Morris. The tables were laid sumptuously, and all enjoyed it the more because of the surroundings, where trees on one side bent over a clear trout-stream, and elsewhere old-fashioned gardens splashed colors over the green background.)