Valley now 2 ft. apart. Rev. Crath took his
trees to the farm at Welcome, 80 miles east of Toronto. They were
planted on a slope below a thick woods from where melting snow and
spring rains kept the field cold and wet until mid-summer. Rev. Crath's
trees were practically a failure; in fact the area seemed to be
unsuitable for walnut seedlings. Mr. Corsan's trees continued to grow,
but even here the soil did not seem to be the most suitable.

I took mine to a sandy garden soil that had been under sod for 20 years.
The sod was broken and thoroughly disced. The spring was wet and very
favourable for transplanting. The trees on this soil grew very well
without any fertilizer at all; nor did they require any spraying. The
trees continued to grow deep and do better each succeeding year.

In the spring of 1939 I started to sell trees wholesale to the Dominion
Nursery, Georgetown, Ont. Mr. Bradley, the president, carried more
novelty items in his catalogue than any other nurseryman in Canada. I
continued to plant more seeds until 1939.--The war stopped further
importations, and I sold out all the trees by the spring of 1943.

So from my nursery probably went out some 10,000 trees; the weaker
seedling always perished during the winter. From Mr. Corsan's nursery,
another 10,000 trees--about half of these went to his son, Hebden Corsan
in Michigan. Rev. Crath's nursery yielded not more than 5000. He
imported a number of cherries, plums, grapes and others fruits, all of
which did not do too well either.

During the period before the war, orders came in from everywhere--from
British Columbia to Nova Scotia, even Newfoundland, besides nurseries in
the United States. Orders from the prairie provinces were dissuaded but
some customers insisted on a trial basis. Walnut seed, the first two
years went mostly to Western Ontario, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
By 1939 the seedling nursery business that I had apparently fallen into,
looked good. Rev. Crath and I talked the situation over. We decided to
go to the country, lease some land. I would select
the land and continue to grow seedlings and besides, import selected
grafts to develop in Canada a hardy high quality grafted walnut tree.

In September we prepared to make another expedition. My banker was most
agreeable this time. Rev. Crath got as far as New York where, awaiting
the S. S. Batory to sail, the war broke out. The S. S. Pilsudski was
sunk just out of Gdynia the next day.