The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-20
The English walnut.

Mr.. William Saunders of the United
States department of agriculture has call
ed attention to the profits to be derived
from the cultivation of the English wal
nut. writes Joseph Mahan in the Practical
Farmer He refers to the trees set out
years ago by the old-tme farmers, now
fiourishing so finely in many parts of the
country, and regrets that The farmer of
to-day has caught the prevailing fever and
cannot wait long enough for a walnut
tree TO bear, and so never plants one. This
is in good part true, and yet there is this
to be said about it, no matter what the
farmer of to-day desires, the walnut is
not as hardy as some other fruits. Still,
it could be planted much more than it is.
AT the present time it Is not much plant
ed north of New York city. 1t does well
in Pennsylvania and along the coast of
New York, and up to the Connecticut
line il can be found. / have seen -four
ishing trees of it on Long Island. There
is no doubt that by a continual selection
of hardy sorts, saving and sowing the
nuts from the most northerly trees. little
10y little the hardness would increase,
carrying the Northern limit further ana
further along. This has occurred in the
case Of the evergreen magnolia and the
sweet gum of the South. also of other
Southern trees 1t has been found that
when a tree is doubtfully hardy the North
ern planter should get his seedlings as
near home as possible. The peach from
the far South. if raised from trees native
TO the locality for years. viii not do as
well in the far North as trees from nearer
home And this holds good with the Eng
lish walnut. This is proved in this way:
There are in Germantown, Philadelphia
trees of the English walnut. perhaps fifty
feet high, which were planted by those
who first settled the town. These trees
besides that they are entirely hardy pro-
duce nuts which give a race of hardy seed
lngs, hardy from the start, which is not
the case with imported seed.
The nuts imported from abroad produce
seedlings which are liable to have their
terminal buds killed in winter This will
occur for two, three or four years, maxi
ing che trees have a crooked main stem
After these first years have passed the
tees are not injured. This proves that
in time trees adapt themselves to condi-
tons surrounding them, as these old Ger
mantown trees were probably brought d.
rect from there. The farmer of to-day
thinks he cannot wait for such a slow
tee as the walnut He wants something
like the apple and the pear, which will
give him fruit in quicker time. Those old
going German settlers could wait longer
than their children can, as even here. i'm
Pennsylvania, there are but few of the
trees planted to-day. There is many an
acre lot bringing no revenue to-day which
could be planted with profit with these
tees. When they commence to bear. which
is when they are about 10 years old, they
rarely miss crop, and keep OH thriving
and bearing for 100 years or more. The
planting distance for these trees should
be- about fifty feet. utilizing the space be-
tween them with plum or peach trees, I'M
ia the walnuts require the space But
besides the orchard culture, there is room
for single trees about the farm, which
may as well be of something profitable,
as the English walnut certainly would be.