his book, "IN PLEASANT VALLEY," he says, "What we
need is a new kind of pioneer, not the sort which cut down the forest,
and burned off the prairies, and raped the land, but the kind which
creates new forests and heals and restores the richness of the country
God has given us."

Weather Conditions versus Nut Tree Crops

By J. F. Wilkinson, Indiana

Nut tree crops, like other crops, are dependent on heat, light and
moisture in proper amount at the right time to produce a crop of nuts of
normal quality; soil conditions also to be taken into consideration.

These conditions are probably more essential to a nut crop than most of
us have realized; even the weather of the preceding season of late
summer and fall may affect or determine next seasons nut crop.

The size of the nut depends on the weather in Spring and early Summer,
for when the shell is once formed and hardened little more growth can be
expected under any conditions, while plumpness of kernel depends on
favorable conditions in late Summer and Fall.

After the shell is formed it fills with water which gradually changes to
kernel, beginning at outer part next to shell, and unless there is
plenty of heat, light, and moisture, kernel may not be filled, which
will cause kernel to shrink, and not be plump, neither will it have
normal germinating vitality, flavor, or weight.

In the past there have been seasons when nuts were not up to normal
quality, but I did not realize then just what caused this condition,
until a few years ago, I heard a party remark that a dry season was an
indication of a good nut crop the following year.

Recalling back several seasons this, as a rule, has been true,
especially where there was no unusually early Fall freezes, and Spring
weather was favorable.

The season of 1944 here was one of the driest on record. Up until the
middle of August, nut trees were showing signs of going dormant. Late in
June, sap was getting so low that I did all my budding late in June, a
month earlier than usual.

This early dry weather caused the nuts that year to be very small,
especially on trees growing under less favorable conditions. Trees that
were well cultivated produced nearer normal sized nuts.

About the middle of August rains began, and these nuts were well filled.
The rains of August brought new life into the trees causing them to hold
their foliage unusually late, and not being thoroughly dormant before
cold weather, at which