ting later at a profit.

It is to their interest to demoralize the market early, so they can buy
cheaply, and later proclaim a scarcity so the market will advance to
profitable levels. They seem fully alive to their interests. At the
opening of the past season one very prominent New York buyer was
offering from 16 to 18 cents per pound for hand-picked kernels, though I
knew of none selling at anywhere near that figure.

This class of customer is rather unsatisfactory, though they will pay
fair prices late in the season if a real shortage exists, and they are
out of supplies.

5. A good, honest broker or commission merchant is probably the most
satisfactory channel for handling large quantities of kernels. He is
acquainted with actual prices and market conditions, as well as a large
list of possible customers. His customers are usually commercial
consumers, though he also sells wholesale supply houses. His commission
is usually 3 per cent.

As a note of warning, be sure your broker is honest, then stick to him.
Some concerns masquerading as brokers or commission merchants are really
wholesale buyers on their own account. They will charge the shipper a
commission on sales to themselves at a low figure. The Baltimore market
seems especially cursed with this sort of thing, though it is now, I
believe, forbidden by a code. As a whole, Baltimore is not a very
satisfactory market for black walnut kernels, though the largest in the
East. I find Philadelphia and New York more satisfactory.

The outlook for the 1934 black walnut crop in this section is most
promising. A dry spring was favorable to a good set of nuts, while
plenty of rain during the summer guarantees good size. Prices will
probably be satisfactory, due to the extreme drought in the West and the
labor situation already referred to.

At this point I shall digress from the subject assigned me. The
following matter may be left off the record, at your discretion.

a. In my 1932 report I made mention of several promising black walnut
seedlings found in this locality. Samples of the nuts of the parent
trees of the 1931 crop have been kept to the present time. All have
deteriorated to a greater or lesser degree except the Stanley, which is
as sweet and good as when gathered. The Stanley and Caldwell are
precocious as grafted trees.

The Bowman seedling tree, which was reported as most precocious, is
continuing its record of not having missed a crop since its thir