hey do appreciate it.
I am carrying on a program over the air as I am the "Nut" man of station
CFRB and follow the farm report on prices at 1:45 o'clock each
afternoon. We are trying to influence the farmers to plant nut trees
along the lanes, around the barns and in the pastures and thus beautify
the farms and bring the boys and girls back from the cities. None of the
work that has been done in the research line of agriculture has
approached the value of the work that Prof. Neilson has done here in
Michigan in the last few years. The surface of the farms can be planted
to grains and vegetables and yield practically nothing, but you can
plant a nut tree and it will reach down into the sub-soil with its long
roots and bring up the finest food in the form of nut meats.
Nut Growing on a Commercial Basis
_By_ AMELIA RIEHL, _Illinois_
(_Read by Title_)
I have several times given figures stating the size of our chestnut crop
and the income from year to year. To this I might add that the crop last
year amounted to 6,423 pounds and was sold at wholesale for $1,082.76.
Because we do a good part of the work ourselves, it is hard to figure
the cost of harvesting. But the amount we paid out in cash comes away
below $100.00. We still think it pays to grow chestnuts, though things
look pretty bad around here now.
This was the third very dry season we have had in succession, and the
very worst of all. We had no rain at all for over seventy days, and the
heat was terrible. Everything suffered from drought. Even forest trees
on the island below us died from lack of moisture. You can imagine what
happened to the nut trees on the steep hillsides. All were more or less
scorched, and many of them actually died. These are the old trees that
father planted years ago. The young trees, which were planted after he
was gone, on fairly level ground, are heavy with burrs, and I know will
produce a fair crop of nuts as usual. For the first time in several
years we will have no hazels. They bloomed very early this year and were
caught by late frost. There are a few walnuts on some of the trees, but
I doubt if they will be well filled.
For forty years father tried to grow English walnuts, but never
succeeded in getting any of them to bear nuts. Finally gave it up in
disgust. After he was gone we started out all over again, planting
several varieties that were thought to be hardy. Now for the first time
one of them has set eight
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