Willard G. Bixby, Baldwin, N. Y.

When I set out the first nut trees which now are growing at my place at Baldwin, I was very particular to follow the best advice obtainable. What this was is to be found in Bulletin No. 5, published by the association, pages 8 and 9, under Planting Directions. I will not take time here to read them but will refer those interested to that publication.

Much that is to be found there is unquestionably the best practice that we know today. The importance of preventing the roots from drying out, digging holes of sufficient size and filling with good top soil, firming the soil well about the roots, severely cutting back after planting and staking newly set trees if they are of appreciable size above ground, are of the utmost importance and should be emphasized, but others of these directions have been modified in my practice and I will relate the unfortunate experiences which caused these changes to be made.

From the start there has been trouble in transplanting hickories, difficulties with other trees being small in comparison. Out of a number of fine looking little grafted hickories set out in the fall or spring some would be sure to die. They mostly came from Mr. Jones, who, as a rule, has furnished the finest looking hickories that I have received, and were finely packed and seemingly ought to have lived, but only part of them did. After losing a number out of one lot, I watched the lot purchased next year with particular care. Three out of a lot of six, which had put out leaves well in the spring, by the middle of July began to show signs of distress, the edges of the leaves beginning to turn brown which the year previous had been the beginning of the end. I knew what had happened the year previous, felt that the trees would die if something was not done, and did something. That something was to dig about six quarts of chicken manure and two trowels of nitrate of soda around the three trees that looked sick and saw that they were watered plentifully till a heavy rain came. At first nothing was noticed, but after a while the brown disappeared on the leaves that were only slightly brown, while in other cases new leaves put out and finally a second growth of shoots, very small to be sure, but the trees had been saved. This was diametrically opposed to previous practice of putting no manure or strong fertilizer in holes when planting the trees, but the result was so satisfactory that I have continued to dig in about 1/4 of a wheelbarrow of well rotted stable manure around each tree when planting and two trowels of nitrate of soda in May when the growth should start in the spring.

The above treatment seemed almost entirely to solve the difficulties of transplanting and for about two years practically no hickories were lost. Twenty-four Hales trees, 10 years from grafting brought here from Monticello, Florida, all lived through the first year and 23 of them through the second and now seemingly have a long life ahead of them. Inasmuch as Mr. Jones expressed his doubts as to how successful this experiment would be I regarded it as somewhat of a triumph. On the other hand out of the finest looking lot of young Iowa hickories grafted a year ago this spring and shipped in the fall and set out just as carefully as I knew how, with well rotted stable manure in the holes and seemingly having every prospect of a long life before them, all have died now, excepting four, two of which I am making desperate efforts to save.

The reason for this failure has not yet been proved, but I have an idea what it is. With two exceptions the stocks were not large, unusually small in fact, and the growth of the grafts was small, but, except for their small size of stock and graft they were fine looking little hickories as one often sees. The two that are in good condition today were bitternuts on bitternut stocks and both the stocks and grafts were notably larger than others. One of these bitternuts by the way, is bearing this year. Evidently there was not as much vitality stored in the smaller trees as in the larger ones. I am inclined to believe that the real trouble was because the grafts, excepting the bitternuts, had not become sufficiently established before having to stand the shock of digging, shipping and transplanting. I have noticed in experiments made to determine the adaptability of a number of species of hickory as stocks that it was not unusual to find that a graft would do reasonably well the first summer and die the second. If this happens occasionally when hickories have not been transplanted it is undoubtedly very much more likely to happen when they are transplanted. I have had practically no losses in transplanting hickories when the graft had grown two seasons before being transplanted. The safe plan, then, would seem to be to let a graft grow two seasons before transplanting. Unfortunately this will add to the cost of grafted hickories which even now are so expensive to produce that almost no nurserymen grow them.

Another one of the commonly accepted principles that I do not now follow is that of not planting trees any deeper than they grew in the nursery. I prefer to plant them a little deeper, say two inches or so. I do not recall losing any trees seemingly from this slightly deeper planting, while I did lose a considerable number of seedlings last year that were inadvertently planted two inches or so too shallow.

Outside of the hickory I have had little trouble in transplanting any trees excepting some of the hazels. Unless hazels, particularly American hazels, are very well rooted, they will need more care the first year than most nut trees, particularly protection from the hot sun and drought. If I get poorly rooted hazels I now plant them in a shady place for a year or two if they have not grown well the first year, and then move them where they are to stay.

THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Snyder of Center Point advocates planting trees two to four inches deeper.

DR. MORRIS: In Dr. Brooks' paper he spoke of some of the twig girdlers in the beetle stage which feed upon the bark of twigs before ovipositing, and he said that gives a weak point where we may attack them. On my place at Stamford, where there are forests, that would be impossible. I have had a good many hazels partially destroyed this year by girdlers. A great many of the branches have the larvae in them. I find also a large number of small hazels on which the leaves and branches are dying, though there is no apparent injury to the bark. Suddenly, however, a little twig will drop off and yet, in cutting into them, I did not find any larvae.

DR. BROOKS: That happens to be the work of an insect which I am just beginning to study, one of the flat-headed borers, and the reason you have not seen the larva is that it is very small. It is not half an inch long. In the second year it comes out as an adult. I judge that control measures should be used in the spring, when I think without doubt that it would feed on the poisoned spray.

DR. MORRIS: I find a great many larvae in dead twigs on the ground. If we are going to get this pest out of the way, we should not only look at the twigs on the tree, but at those on the ground as well.

DR. BROOKS: That is true of all of these curculios. Dr. Morris' statement is true. The ground should be gone over and the dead and dying branches and twigs of the trees should be collected. The insects mature in them.

DR. COLLINS: Would you advocate pruning often?

DR. BROOKS: No.

Adjournment to lecture hall. Mr. Henry Hicks of Westbury, Long Island, gave a talk on the transplanting of large trees by his methods, illustrated with lantern slides. This was followed by a talk with lantern slides, on