s of 60 years? Another such
man was Mr. Ross Fickes, of Wooster, whose skill in grafting nut trees
was at once our envy and our admiration. When his farm is sold, will the
new owner sense the hand of the master and watch carefully over the
walnuts and hickories, or will he cut them down?

I suppose that death brings an end to many a business, but the nut
business is a new one, and a slow one, too. It is regretted that a life
time of patient care and painstaking research is lost to us and to nut
culture.

True, a nut specialist will not keep death from the door of nut growers,
nor will he save their groves from destruction, but he can keep a record
of each grower's trees. He can plant his trees and lay out his plantings
on state land where there would be more assurance of permanency. Once a
nut department is established there is good reason to suppose that the
work would go on until certain objectives were attained.

Well, what should our specialist specialize in? May I suggest a few
activities? Such a specialist would be the proper person to keep the
score cards of the prize-winning black walnuts, hickories, butternuts
and English (Persian) walnuts of nut contests held in the state. He
would have the time and space for grafting scions from such trees for
further observation and study.

In the second place, he could plant and study other varieties under
identical conditions and observe their performance. By correlating these
data with the records of individual growers he ought to be able to
recommend certain varieties of nut trees for various sections of the
state.

In Ohio, we have chapters of the Izaak Walton League; we have Friends of
the Land; we have sportsmens clubs; we have extensive tracts of
municipal and state land. We have the problem of doing something
constructive with strip mining areas; we have, and will have under
contour farming, little crazy-quilt blocks of land unsuitable for
cultivation. All these agencies and all these needs tie in with the
intelligent use of trees, particularly nut trees, because they serve a
fourfold purpose; lumber, food, erosion control, and a balanced wild
life. Here is where the nut specialist would enter the scene. By
collecting data, by pooling the results of the individual growers, and
especially by selection and breeding, he should be able to recommend the
proper varieties of nut trees for specific needs.

It seems to me, however, that the main job of such a worker s