ith matured trees are again
mostly climatic; drought, sun-scald, early advent of spring followed by
late frosts, delayed dormancy in the fall, poor filling in dry seasons,
and biennial fruiting.

Insect enemies which damage both trees and nuts are practically the same
as in the north only there are more of them. Rodent damage and squirrel
theft seem less troublesome there owing, perhaps, to protective measures
and to the well developed hunting instinct among southern farm boys.

A larger proportion of growers than are reported in the north sell nuts
commercially, with pecans, walnuts, and chestnuts listed as the most
profitable species. The practice is still limited as an important source
of income, but a much greater proportion of planters look confidently
forward toward profitable operations in the future.

_Black Walnuts._ It is evident that in some of the warmer parts of the
United States, California, for instance, the word "hardiness" takes on a
certain connotation that we should understand better in the north. Its
meaning there is "resistance to delayed dormancy", as one California
report states it. As a matter of fact, it might be advisable for us all
everywhere to think of hardiness in these terms. Delayed dormancy is
hazardous in any tree, whether natural to it or induced artificially by
late summer or early fall cultivation and fertilizing, and whether the
tree is located in the north or in the south. When a tree goes into the
winter with sappy wood, it is injured, and we say it is not hardy.

That this is true in the south as well as in the north is well attested
by the returns on black walnut trees of the south. There, the tree gives
us a picture surprisingly similar to that of the north. In the south, if
the tree's dormancy is delayed, it does not get its proper rest between
crops and it dies or is stunted, in one way or another, for some time
thereafter. In the north, if the following winter is severe, it simply
dies. Perhaps the winter killed it. Or perhaps we killed it with
unseasonable pampering.

Reports show that in the south, Rohwer, Stambaugh, and Ten Eyck lead in
hardiness in the printed list of black walnuts, with a score of 80%
each. Ohio, Stabler and Thomas each average 75%. Of the written-in
names, Sifford and Beck are reported hardy, followed by Creitz. Elmer
Myers has only one report, which is rather unfavorable in this respect.

In yield, Creitz has the best rating, then Thomas, Stambau