trains of the Persian walnut,
through the efforts of Rev. Paul C. Crath, of Toronto, Canada, a native
of Poland, and whose father was the head of the Agricultural College in
the Ukraine. He went back to his own country as a missionary in the
early 1930's, and there noticed the hardiness of the Persian walnuts
growing in that severe climate. Realizing the possibilities of these
strains for fruiting in North America, he combed that rich Russian
agricultural region in the Carpathian Mountains for seed for
experimental planting over here, harvesting it from trees uninjured at
temperatures of -40 deg. F. These parent trees were carefully selected for
regular production of good crops of thin-shelled, easily-cracked nuts of
good quality. The trees were growing at such distances from others that
cross-pollination was avoided. Rev. Crath had observed that seedlings
from such self-pollinated trees usually bore nuts that closely resembled
those of the parent.

Each tree from which nuts were saved was given a number in order to keep
future records straight. The nuts were planted in a nursery established
by Rev. Crath near Toronto. Wishing some point in this country where his
trees could be distributed without the difficulty and delay incurred in
moving small shipments across the border, Rev. Crath arranged with Mr.
Samuel H. Graham, of Ithaca, New York, to take sole charge of their
distribution in the United States. Considerable interest has been
aroused in the possibilities of these strains and their distribution has
been wide-spread, with over 2,000 seedlings sent to many Northern States
since 1937. In a few more years, after a considerable proportion of
these numbered seedlings have come into bearing, we shall have some
valuable information regarding their possibilities in sections of the
country where previously it had not been considered possible to grow
Persian walnuts.

Several Illinois horticulturists have planted seedlings of these strains
and have already brought one or more of them into bearing. Others have
used scion wood of the Crath types in top-working black walnut trees.
The sample Crath Carpathian walnut No. 1 on display at the 1942 meeting
of the Illinois Horticultural Society at Quincy was grown by Mr. Royal
Oakes, of Bluffs, Illinois. Mr. Oakes topworked a black walnut with
Crath Seedling No. 1 scions in 1938 and harvested six nuts in 1942. At
the Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station at Urbana, we have over