Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-02-13
NUT PLANTING.
A Source of Sore Disappointment
to Amateurs.
IT'S NOT GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD
Tho Seeds Retain their Germinatiye
Power for Comparatively Short Time
After Maturity.

To the amateur planter, says writer
in Garden and Forest" no class of
the larger seeds of trees and shrubs
causes more disappointments and elicits
as many questions as do the various
kinds of fruits known as nuts. The
cause is generally lack of knowledge,
of proper treatment or carelessness. 1t
does not seem to be generally under
stood, although the fact has been stated
over and over again in horticultural
journals, that many of these seeds re-
tain their germinative power for a
comparatively short time after matur-
ity, unless they find the proper condi-
tions for their preservation. The
acorns of the white oak, Quercus alba,
for instance, often crack and sprout
and show the so-called root before the
fruit falls from the tree. If these
acorns are gathered and allowed to dry
for few weeks before planting, it is
unlikely that any of them will grow.
The same result follows in nature, if
they fall on ground which is hard and
dry and continues so for sometime
afterward, but if the ground is moist,
the radiole or incipient root will soon
enter it and be secured from drying,
unless the soil itself should be deprived
of moisture. What is true of the white
oak is true of other species, although
often in much less marked degree.
Some of the black oak group, for in
stance, bear acorns which are slower in
terminating and appear to preserve
their vitality better under adverse
conditions. 1t is destructive to the
vegetative power of all acorns to col
leot them in the autumn and keep them
uncovered in an ordinary dry room to
be planted in spring. But any Of them
may be preserved for months if simply
packed or mixed with moist, but not
wet sand, soil or moss, and kept in
a cool temperature, such as would pre-
vail under light covering of leaves or
soil in the open air. Similar treat
ment must be given to hazel nuts,
chestnuts and to beech nuts. In all
cases care should be taken to mix in
plenty of soil, or to place the nuts in
layers SO that they do not touch each
other, and any tendency to heat and
consequent moulding should be guarded
against. Butternuts, walnuts, and
hickory nuts will not grow readily, or
at all, if allowed to become thoroughly
dried or cured, although the kernels
may preserve a fresh appearance for
years after germinative power is lost
They will, however. keep their vital
ity much better and longer than acorns
under the same conditions.
As rule, direct planting in the open
ground as soon as the seed is collected
is to be preferred, wherever practical
BILE, for most kinds of nuts and acorns.
Among objections to this system are
the liability of the larger nuts to de-
struction by squirrels, of the thinner
shelled ones by mice and some other
rodents, or by birds; and (2) the &C.
tion of frost in heaving the nuts out of
the ground. Where the depredators
can be guarded against, the heaying
action of frost may be obviated by COW
ering of leaves or boards laid over the
seed. Some growers aim to plant
after hard freezing weather has set
in, because there is then less liability
to disturbance by animals. In this
system Of planting an extra quantity
of seed is required to allow for failures
or mishaps, just as is the rule with
many field crops.
Walnuts, hickories and oaks gener-
ally form long tap roots, and some per-
sons consider it an advantage to have
the seed planted where the trees are to
remain permanently, as it is generally
found expedient to cut the tap roots
when transplanting. When the seed
is planted where the tree is to remain,
experiments have shown that these un-
disturbed trees make much faster
growth, in their early years at least,
than those whose main roots have been