Association to come to Indiana next year. I will take you along the banks of the Wabash, the Ohio and Green River, where the pecan trees grow so big that the sun has to go around. I send best wishes for a successful meeting."

The Chairman: Mr. Pomeroy has kindly consented to give us a talk on walnuts.

EXPERIENCES AND EXPERIMENTS WITH THE PERSIAN WALNUT

A. C. Pomeroy, New York

When our secretary asked me to prepare a paper on this subject, I thought it would be very simple, but after making a beginning I found that about all I knew on nut culture was my own experiences—successes and failures—covering a period of about twenty-five years.

During the past year better data have been kept of the behavior of the Persian walnut trees under my observation, than in former years.

Hereafter it is my intention to keep a more detailed record of the time of the appearance of the nutlet blossoms of each tree, which is of the utmost importance to those interested in the growing of the Persian walnut in the North and East.

In order to keep a better record of each tree I have numbered the old original trees, planted by my father, from 1 to 7.

Nuts from each tree are here in jars numbered to correspond with the trees from which they were gathered and may be compared for variation in size, shape, thinness of shell and flavor.

It would be impossible to keep an exact record in pounds of the yield of any one tree per year. One thing against any such record, is that many visitors come to our farm every year to see the walnut trees and the pockets of some of them look suspiciously bulky on leaving. (An ordinary coat pocket will hold a quart, an overcoat pocket more than that and there are only thirty-two quarts in a bushel.)

The new orchard is just coming into bearing. At one end of it there is an old black walnut tree, and the young Persians that were planted near this tree began to bear first. Near the center of this eight-acre orchard we planted a butternut tree. This will, I think, help to fertilize the pistillate or nutlet blossoms on many of the trees.

Of the original trees five stand where they can have care and good cultivation. The other two were put in the lawn very close to some old shade trees where they can not be cultivated and are kept pretty well in the shade. The five cultivated trees produced this fall over twenty-three bushels. The nuts were measured on November 10 when there were twenty and a half bushels. The snow was so deep the other few bushels could not be gathered.

Besides the walnut trees mentioned there are perhaps twenty-five more planted in small plots about the farm. Nuts from some of these young trees are here and comparisons may be made with the nuts from the old trees.

To get an idea of how the English walnut has done in some parts of western New York the following replies to enquiries are quoted.

Wilson, one tree thirteen years old, one and one half bushels. Sybrandt, has twenty-five or more trees thirteen years old, some trees a bushel, others over a bushel and a half. Eighme, one tree fifteen or sixteen years old, one bushel. Trippency, one tree fifteen or sixteen years old, two bushels.

Nuts from some of the old and young trees were weighed. The results were somewhat surprising to me.

Tree No. 1 S. R. Long, well-filled nut, 48 to the pound.

Tree No. 1 N. R. Nut slightly pointed, well filled, 40 to the pound.

Tree No. 2 N. R. Nut nearly round, well filled, 37 to the pound.

Tree No. 5. Annual bearer, 64 to the pound.

The weighing was done on a druggist's scales about two weeks after gathering.

Those of you who have not seen a Persian walnut tree in full foliage, have something to live for. Imagine a tree, that was a nut in the spring of 1877, its branches now spreading full fifty feet, its topmost bough fully that far from the ground, its trunk measuring seventy-six inches around, well above the earth.

Imagine such a tree in its foliage of dense, dark glossy green, its branches loaded with fruit, sometimes actually touching the ground.

The question is sometimes asked what is such a tree worth for cabinet use? I don't know, and I don't care. What I do know is that those five trees produced well upward of forty dollars each this year.

Our markets in western New York are good. The folks that use nuts as a daily food have increased greatly in the past few years. Niagara County has three cities, Erie County, adjoining, also has three cities. The population of Buffalo is about 450,000; improved highways and gasolene trucks have put us within an hour and a half of all these six cities.

While there are hundreds of young Persian walnut trees, just coming into bearing, in some of the counties of western New York, the supply of home-grown nuts will probably never fill the demand.

Professor Lake paid the farm a short visit this past summer and told of his grafting. I think he said he had a loss of 90 per cent. We beat that a little as our loss was 100 per cent.

The failure in grafting was due, I think, to the scions not being cut early enough.

Budding in August was done by budders expert with fruit trees. A Jones budding tool was used. Nearly all the buds took.

We do not have much trouble with disease or insects.

We have had no trouble to speak of with worms. About ten years ago a few nests of the tent caterpillar were cut off and burned.

Some 18 or 20 years ago all, or nearly all, of the nuts dropped in June. I do not know what was the matter.

In 1906 the ends of some of the branches on the older trees turned brown and died back a few inches.

These were cut off and burned. We had but few nuts that year.

In fertilizing have used barnyard manure. When it was used it was at times applied too freely, perhaps, as some of the young trees put forth a growth of six feet in one season. I do not think it well to force them too much. The fertilizing should be done in the winter or early spring.

Trimming may be done at any time a branch appears that needs removing.

There is one pretty good sized tree on the farm with black walnut stem and Persian walnut top. Some horticulturists seem to think that this kind of a tree is hardier. My observations are that there is not a bit of difference. This tree and another on a near-by farm are the only two I know of with a black walnut stem and a Persian top, in my section.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture has issued a bulletin "Soil Survey of Niagara County, N. Y." By referring to this, I find that the soils that have produced thrifty, and prolific Persian walnut trees are, Dunkirk loam, Dunkirk sandy loam, Dunkirk silt loam, Clyde sandy loam and clay loam.

The winters of western New York are frequently quite severe. The winter of 1911-12 was a very severe one, zero weather prevailing most of the time and frequently it was way below zero for days. No injury was done to the Persian walnut trees and a good crop of nuts was harvested in the fall of 1912.

In May, 1913, on the nights of the 11th and 12th it was so cold that ice formed an eighth of an inch, or more, in thickness. The staminate catkins on the Persian walnut trees were fairly well developed and it was thought the nuts were gone for this year surely, but the last of May the pistillate blossoms came out, the staminates matured and the results have already been told you.

I think that Persian walnut trees pay better than apples, and that there is no danger of an oversupply.

The cost for labor in caring for the trees and in harvesting the crop is very much less than for any other fruit crop. No spraying and no picking are