at some found their
chief source of failure exactly where others had made their best
success. The explanation must lie in differences in technique, in soil
or in some other local condition. Skill, knowledge, and persistence must
always play a great part in any success.

We next asked, "_What have been your chief difficulties with
established, bearing trees?_" The difficulties here shift from matters
of soil, rodent protection and the like to other types; caterpillars,
neglect, winter injury, limited crops, failure of nuts to fill,
disappointing quality of nuts, bag and tent worms, blight, "blight" due
to drought, too early leaf fall, insects in early spring, trees drowned
out in flooded bottom lands. It is probable that this last disaster
happened to younger trees.

As to the species of trees chiefly damaged by these causes, black walnut
comes first (possibly because more of these trees have been planted),
then hickories, Persian walnuts, chestnuts (blight), heartnuts, pecans,
filberts, butternuts, and finally butternuts in the south areas from
fungus troubles.

Trees reported to have been least damaged were, first, butternuts, then
hazels and filberts, black walnuts, hickories, Manchurian walnuts, Jap.
walnuts, heartnuts, chestnuts, pecans, Persian walnuts.

In response to the specific question, "_What insects damaged the
trees?_", we found that walnut caterpillars were more common than any
others, followed closely by web or "tent" worms. The Japanese beetle is
a close second and is broadening its entrenched positions steadily.
Others are flat-headed apple borers, lace-wing fly, aphis, leaf hoppers.
To this list two reporters added sapsuckers among the insects. These
birds would almost girdle some of the branches with punctures.

Insect damage was reported as serious by eight reporters, as slight or
occasional by six, and of yearly occurrence by nearly all. Others
reported damage as serious if not controlled.

"_What do you do to control the insects?_" was then asked. Most of the
answers referred to clustering types of insects and involved removal of
the clusters by burning, by cutting off the infested twigs, or by
scraping off the clusters from the trunks in the early morning or late
evening. Others sprayed with lead arsenate, "sprayed in late summer with
lead arsenate", sprayed with nicotine sulphate for aphis and lice. Other
methods mentioned were early cultivation, shaking the tree with a pole
early and ofte