The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-04-12
AMERICAN NUT CULTURE.
IT'S ono WIN AND PRoSPECTs-HHAT
TREES MAZE DONE nest

that Are Both Ornament cal and rru,tfui-
The Experience OF Americas Growers.
According TO Mr.. 8. 3. Hedges, who is the
Pomologist In the Department OF Agriculture,
the culture of nut bearing trees In the United
States has until recently been confined 20
marrow limits. both as TO area and ne TO tho
number of species. This he attributes partly
TO the abundance OF wild nuts. which In many
places supply the market demand. and partly
10 the fact that greater skill is needed 60 pro-
duoe superior nuts than IL required In The
culture OF most other fruits. There is a pop.
ular impression, too, that a man who plants
nut trees does 20 for the benefit Of his success.
orr, rather than for his own; but MIR. IIeiges
says that this has not been the experience Of
the late w. X. stuart with the pecan. in MiP-
~siseippi; OF A. T. Hatch, with the almond, and
of Russell Heath. with the Persian walnut, In
CALIFORNIA;: of William Parry. with the chest
nut, In New Jersey; of 5. G.. Moon and II. NJ.
Engle. in Pennsylvania, md of others who
have achieved success in nut culture after
being well advanced In life. Such examples.
he says, ought to inspire the young with an in.
terest in this subject.
The special report on nut trees which Mr..
Hedges has made is full of interesting informa-
tion, largely based upon replies TO questions
sent out long ago to the nut growers Of the
United States. 1t appears that the leading nuts
cultivated here are. first. the almond. secondly.
the walnuts, including tho Persian. the Japan
csc. tae California. The black walnut. and the
butternut; thirdly. the hickories. of which
there nre eight or nine species. the most notice
able bainp the uecan. the shapbarks. shelIborks
md me or two ynrieties of The nip nut. fourth-
". the hazels, European and Amcric. n; cfthly,
the chestnuts. American and foreign, including
tho cbinkapln, II dwarf chestnut. Pine nuts
and rocoanuts NAV he added. with some mis-.
cellapeous nuts.
BUT Mr.. Hedges warns those who take mn mt
culture of certain dangers. No large invest.
ment In mt orchards should he mode until
Il ia found what trees will do hest in the Mace
chosen. The best guide /. said 10 be. in gen.
eral. the oualitv and quantity of tbe nut crons
that grow wild. IL there is no guide Of this
sort. trials should he made with n fcv, trees
only. The enterprise IL n marc lotterv unless
the fruit turns out to be SO fine as To create n
speciai demand for II. and so abundant as N
make n nov commercially Tho seed m,v Nor
eyen give n nut like the one nlantcd. such Is tho
tendency to vary. increased by cross fertiliza.
ton. This f. known even in reaches. and n mt
orchard usually takes thrice rs long 10 reach
The plentifullv b.aring ove
", lei - -
let win these Cautions the general DISPOSE
tion OF this official report Is encouraging. 1t
appears that some growers advise leaving mt
,ro.. In tbo n,r,orr cue LII ,han ,as,. -
trees IN the nursery rows until they egin to
y 3D. ""u unno 'e ".,u ..tin VI one, tMu,
where they are to rema ain : The lesson Dson' seems ,errs
10 be that some degree of success must hive
been achieved under all these plans in certain
cases. Nuts that have become dry may be quick
over them. The most widely prevailing error
is that OF planting 700 close. Inc PERSIAN
wa!nut and the almond allow other crops
among them' as 10 the apple ana the peach.
n,intmants H. sauo na,.. n,,ho ,"~
-" ~ eono p",t' " ne country "ur'
temnted but bos won trirmrhs in CoIitnr,ia
sn,eo ~ " u .l'uinpra IL O"i'4oI"".
1000, 900 pounds, bringing aelG cents for paper
Snr,ot,os T. ,haa orcooSo, ,ha =" - 'o
imported almonds, being superior. However,
the importation more than keeps PACE with
the increase of home production. Thus the
California yield Of 1892 was put in round mum.
oers at ooo'Voo pounds hut the importatioHs Mt
6.3T1.o1 pounds, And in general the home pro-
onor,;,v c"ns,moS =, npraar" ,Ia, ~. tm'
quantity consumed. 1t appears that the al
budding, hut reaches mature ~fruitare at from
seven to ten years. while there is great varia.
40" a, q, co I'M" SIZE c', ana sS qualify ,rSo. OF OF %rp ms;,,o -, ,.
reported to have produced in 1880 for A,rrsd N,
Rowland 20, 900 pounds OF hulIcd nuts, an az, rage
OF la pounds per tree; From one tree he gathered
40 pounds. In 1890 this same orchard averaged .
pounds per tree. The nuts begin to ripcn about the
Middle OF August IN that latitude. J. J, Lesson OF
socorro' y: Al. states that he harvested from one
HHatch Of Sn,aan pIuhr rsp rSauy i"r market; A. !;
from 90 10 10 nn,,nds a ,ree. u" E,mo e,a t,riu o
santa Barbara, CAL writes; Ten pornIs C Sner res, %,
IS an excellent crop on the coast: sometimes 81
course. IL will bear 40 or 80 pnnnds, bur If the
whole average . pounds it is a good crop ''
Eliwood Cooper OF santa Farbara, cal, says: THE
soft shell almond lAnguenoG rariey. is hardy and
grows well, but Is a very Shy h"ar"r. II docs not
&c crops ,hat VIII warrant Investments In or:
Sn,rus' in Los Ange,'s ,rTunty,, wncr, tried, 1t dd
Tnr,e,,s MN ,h., ~ nanta n"runra COMFY. me Only
e%e IansueIoc and PaprrsbeiiiI '' The Int Ior"i hSs
borne we'll. but The bird ! ret nil TIA w"oInec mr
and yellow hammer are the worst enemies Crows
come by housan,Is, bur we can keen them on Tho
almonds grown In the Interior are Langric,ioc,
TX L. Nonpariel. and Ne Plus Ultra. | have tried
che ] X l, and 1t does not do any better than the
Lansueaoc''
California growers have n saving that the
best almond In any place is the se"dlinw that
originated there. The bitter almond seed
linvs sometimes produce nuts having sweet
kernels. The sweet almonds are divided gen.
orally into hard, soft. and pauer shells. The
latter the most valuable: but there are great