By-Laws (part 3)

At the orchard of the Department of Pomology of Cornell University there is a large collection of walnut and hickory varieties and other nut trees. It is not known exactly what the temperatures were in this location but an exposed location half a mile distant had a minimum September temperature recorded of 24 deg.F. and minimum winter temperature of -20 deg.F. The planting in question is on two levels and on a hillside. The damage on the hillside and the upper level was relatively less than on the lowlands where apparently the air drainage was poor. Probably the temperature in the lowlands may have reached 20 deg.F. in September and -25 deg.F. in the winter. At any rate, the damage to the trees was much more severe than in the West Hill location where the temperature reached 23 deg.F. in September.

Injury to the black walnut on the higher land and on the hillside was mostly the killing back of the twigs and smaller branches. On some trees, the petioles of last year's leaves were still attached to the dead twigs late the following summer, showing that the freeze occurred before the abscission layers had formed. The dozen or more varieties of black walnut on the higher land showed little difference between them except that the Elmer Myers showed somewhat greater injury. On the low ground, many varieties including Murphy, Edmunds, Benton, Ohio, Todd, and Stambaugh were killed to the ground or back to the main branches of the trunk. Of three Thomas trees, about 20 years old, one was killed outright, one severely injured, and the other injured only in the twigs. Apparently the difference in these three trees was related to the size of the crop on the trees, although no definite data are available on this point. Walnuts showing little or no injury were: Mintle and Tasterite. Neither of these had had a crop in 1947.

Many of the varieties of hickory were injured as was the native bitternut, Carya cordiformis. This injury consisted mostly of the killing back of the lower limbs and twigs with some varieties being killed outright. Killing of the lower limbs as compared with the tops of the trees is probably related to lower temperatures near the ground due to temperature inversion and possibly to the fact that the lower branches were somewhat weaker in their growth. This sort of injury is common with fruit trees.

On the higher ground the Chinese chestnut trees planted some 20 years ago showed considerable injury. About 50% of them were killed and others were damaged in the lower branches. Chestnut trees in this planting had all survived the cold winter of 1933-34, with winter temperatures below -30 deg.F., so that it is probable that the early freeze of September 27 was responsible for their death.

Japanese walnut seedlings again showed great difference in hardiness, the more tender seedlings killing to the ground and others showing little damage.

Northern pecans on higher ground showed severe damage, the killing extending to the trunk and larger limbs. The variety Burlington, which is a hybrid, pecan x shagbark, showed little injury.

In a planting of several hundred seedling black walnut trees in another location the temperature on September 27 was probably around 18-20 deg.F. About 20% of the trees were killed to the ground. These trees were growing under a sod mulch, were not overly vigorous, and for the most part had not come into fruiting.

In the 1947-48 winter about half of the sweet cherries in the Pomology orchard were killed and peaches were severely injured. No injury was apparent on apple trees.

Weather conditions such as occurred in 1947-48, though unusual, are to be expected occasionally in the latitude of Ithaca, and in fact throughout the northern states. Apparently the fall freeze was widespread as it was almost impossible to obtain any black walnuts that were of any value. Some of the specimens received from other sources obviously had been frozen. The possibility of such damage might well be a deterrent on planting black walnuts in any considerable acreage as a commercial venture in the north. The experience of the past year certainly emphasizes the fact that as yet our knowledge of varieties is incomplete and also that the Northern Nut Growers Association has much work to do in either locating or developing varieties of greater hardiness or with growth characteristics which provide early maturity and thus immunity from early frost damage.

What Came Through the Hard Winter in Ontario

GEORGE HEBDEN CORSAN, Islington, Ontario

For winter killing of trees I refer you to the winter of 1947-48. I had a huge elm and a very tall white ash killed. A lot of black walnuts and heartnuts and some Persian (English) walnuts were killed back the length of last year's growth. Some Persian walnuts were killed to the ground while others were not even nipped off of a bud. Very strange to say, my best Persian walnut—-whose shell is very thin, whose meats are very sweet and fat, the tree itself a fast grower, prolific and self-pollenizing—not only did not show a sign of trouble but actually had a crop of most excellent nuts. These trees only will I distribute in future, as well as my two types of "Rumanian Giants." The Rumanian Giants did show a little winter killing of two or three inches of the tips and showed up poorly on the crop size.

I find that all my Russian walnuts [J. regia, probably "Carpathian"—Ed.] run true to seed—no bitter nuts as from north China. They evidently planted the sweet nuts only, thus eliminating the bitter types; they knew and practiced no budding or grafting in [that part of] Russia. Astounding to say, filberts came through last winter in excellent shape, but the terrible, cold, late spring, froze all male blossoms but those of the "Jones Hybrid" types, which I have from seeds I sowed. These latter yielded a good crop of nuts as did Brixnut seedlings.

Not a butternut on a tree nor a beechnut! Some black walnuts were loaded while others were quite empty.

And so I predicted—last September—a mild, open winter with some cold days. [His prediction was good for his locality.—Ed.]

My "Senator Pepper" hybrid (butternut x heartnut cross) had a crop but my "David Fairchild" had some empty and some full. My "Mitchell hybrid" had a good crop and, believe me, this nut is far away ahead of the Mitchell heartnut and up against the world for cracking out clean. It will equal an almond, and as for taste, it is so far ahead of a Brazil nut that the Brazil nut would rank D 3 beside it.

I still believe in seed planting, even for speed of eventual growth.
Last October I climbed up a black walnut tree I planted in mid-World War
I. From the top of it I looked away down to the tops of electric power
poles!

Filberts Grow in Vermont

JOSEPH N. COLLINS, R.F.D. No. 3, Putney, Vermont

Fifteen years ago I set out a few hundred nut trees and bushes. The Chinese chestnuts are not doing very well, as they needed more attention than I could give them. Honeylocusts, in this climate, require more time. At present I can report only on seedling filberts. The seeds for these plants were collected from the four corners of the world. Some of the seedlings perished, lots of them were discarded as unworthy. At present I am setting out two acres of the ones that stood up well under the test.

The filbert (Corylus avellana) is a bush 15 to 20 feet tall and the bushes should be planted 20 to 25 feet apart. It doesn't mind partial shade, requires no spraying and very little pruning. Like the red raspberry, it is easily propagated by suckers. Most of my bushes started producing when they were four years old and now in their fourteenth year, drop about 15 pounds of large fine nuts each September. They stand up well under the rigorous Vermont climate, at an elevation of 1,000 feet. Knowing as much about their growing habits as I do, I believe that a steady winter with plenty of snow on the ground and a late spring that isn't fickle, is well suited for filbert growing in the Northeast. The need for wind protection and good air and water drainage cannot be over-emphasized.

There are a few reasons why I should advise against growing filberts in tree fashion—with a single trunk, as they are mostly grown on the West Coast. The catkins of the filbert develop during the summer, lie dormant through the winter, and shed their pollen very early in the spring. Should the temperature fall as low as -35 deg.F, the catkins winterkill. To overcome this shortcoming, I bend down and peg to the ground, in the late fall, a few slim shoots with dormant catkins, so that the snow, or some other mulching material supplied when there is insufficient snow, will cover and protect the catkins from winterkilling.

By the end of March, after a stretch of fair weather, two tiny red tongues appear at the tips of some of the leaf buds. These are the pollen catching parts of the pistillate flowers. If the winter was kind, the filbert bushes will be a riot of golden catkins, shedding their pollen. If the catkins remain dormant when the pistillate flowers bloom, they have been winterkilled, and the bent down reserves have to be called up. These being protected during the winter, on being bent back to their original position, will come into bloom in a few days, pollenizing the waiting pistillate flowers. Bees eagerly seek this, one of the earliest pollens. The now fertilized flowers, which always stayed inside the buds, go back to sleep for about two months; they are safe from the "North Easter," from late freezes, or from snow. When filberts are grown naturally, that is with many shoots from the ground, it is easy to harvest them by shaking the slender shoots. I hand hoed my bushes for the first three years, and gave them a permanent mulch over the whole area, adding some material each year.

I am inclined to believe that part of my success with filberts is due to mulching. In the middle of summer, I apply a 4" cover of low grade hay, and in the fall I again cover the ground with fallen leaves. Due to the ideal conditions thus created (optimum temperature and moisture) for soil bacteria and earthworms, this material is entirely digested. The mulching material almost disappears by the middle of the next summer, indicating vigorous biological activity. By this time a new layer of mulch is spread, completing the cycle. Late in the fall a load of manure is heaped in the middle of the plantation as an earthworm refuge. This heap is scattered early in the spring. Light applications of wood ashes and super-phosphate are given yearly, late in the fall.

In conclusion, I wish to state that selected varieties of filbert nuts can be grown in the Northeast. Hybrids between the American and European filbert are good growers and producers, although I find that the flavor of the nut isn't as good as that of the pure avellana. I would advise the planting of a dozen bushes by each of a great number of persons further to prove the possibilities of growing this specific nut in the New England area, also to promote the idea of growing both feed and food on trees and bushes.

Report of Necrology Committee

C. E. Schuster

Carl E. Schuster, horticulturist with the U. S. Department of Agriculture stationed on the Oregon State College campus and generally recognized as the nation's foremost authority on filbert production, died February 6, 1948, in Corvallis as a result of a heart attack. At the time of his death, he was 58.

Associated with the Northwest's growing nut industry for more than 30 years, he was recognized for his outstanding contributions to filbert and walnut production. One of his first and most outstanding developments was related to the pollination requirements of filbert trees. After research proved the common commercial filbert variety, the Barcelona, was self-sterile, he recommended to filbert growers that they plant DuChilly, Daviana and White Aveline filbert trees with their Barcelona to insure complete pollination. Full crops resulted.

+Organized Summer Tours+

For approximately 20 years prior to 1941, he served as secretary-treasurer of the Western Nut Growers Association. In this capacity he assisted in starting the summer tours which have been carried on continuously since. He helped guide the Association through its early years to a position of importance among the commodity groups of the state. In 1941, he was forced to relinquish his office as a result of the enactment of a federal regulation. At this time, he was given an honorary life membership in the Association.

In recent years, he devoted major attention to orchard management with emphasis on fertilization and general nutrition needs of nut trees. In this work he co-operated with Dr. R. E. Stephenson at Oregon State College. Their outstanding development was in the field Of boron deficiency in walnuts.

Walnut production of many orchards, they discovered, could be increased two and three fold by the addition of borax fertilizer. The presence of "snake heads" or sprouts in summer walnut growth and "die-back" or winter kill noticeable in some walnut trees during the winter months are now generally recognized as signs of boron deficiency.

+Wrote Many Nut Articles+

Other work in walnuts proved that fertilizer applications can and do pay. Prior to this work with resulting fertilizer recommendations, many walnut growers had not made heavy enough applications on certain soil types and felt that fertilizers were not worthwhile in walnut production.

Mr. Schuster was the author of many articles pertaining to nut culture.

In the 10 years he was on the staff of the college horticulture department before entering federal service, he made an outstanding record in teaching and research. With other scientists he worked in developing a successful pollination program for cherries. This work was carried on after it was determined that the three leading cherry varieties, Royal Ann, Bing, and Lambert, were all self-sterile and intersterile.

A native of Ohio, he came to Oregon in 1912 to attend Oregon State
College after having completed two years at Ohio Wesleyan. He received a
B.S. degree in agriculture in 1914 and two years later, 1916, received
his master's degree.

He joined the college staff three years later and remained until 1929, when he took the federal position he held until his death. He was a veteran of World War I, having served as an infantry second lieutenant. He was a member of Alpha Zeta Sigma Xi, and Gamma Sigma Delta honor societies and was a life-long member of the Evangelical church, which has since merged with the United Brethren church.

He is survived by Mrs. Schuster and four children, Charles, Robert and Margaret—all Oregon State College students, and Flora, a high school student. A brother, Dr. Earl J, Schuster, lives at Tillamook.—Reprinted from Better Fruit magazine.