all agree that it was a scholarly production.

Do we have anything from the Survey Committee?

Blossoming Habits of the Persian Walnut

H. F. STOKE, _Roanoke, Va._

The Survey Committee, as its project for the current year, has
undertaken a study of the blossoming habits of the Persian walnut. The
prime object of this study is to solve the problem of pollination, so
that the planter may be reasonably sure of a satisfactory crop, whether
his planting be a single tree or an orchard.

While this study has dealt exclusively with the Persian species,
_Juglans regia_, the habits and principles involved apply equally to all
walnut species.

In most plants the reproductive function inheres in a single bisexual
flower, consisting of both male and female elements. In walnuts, as well
as most other nuts, the male and female functions are performed by
unisexual flowers of very different type and appearance.

Both the male or staminate flower and the female or pistillate flower
spring from buds that are formed in the axils at the base of leaves of
the previous season's growth. In the Persian walnut they may be detected
as early as July. The staminate bud that forms the pollen-producing
catkin of the next season, can be distinguished by its checkered
appearance, something like a tiny pine cone. They occur in the axils of
the lower leaves of the shoot of the current season.

The pistillate bud, which produces the nut, occurs at or near the tip of
the growth of the current season. It can usually be distinguished from
leaf buds by its larger size and plumpness.

When these blossom buds develop the following season, the male or
staminate blossom assumes the form of a catkin, which elongates rapidly
a few days before maturity. As the pollen is shed, beginning at the
stem end, the pale yellow-green of the bursted pollen capsule turns dark
or black, proceeding to the tip of the catkin. This change readily shows
that pollen is shedding, which may be confirmed by touching such a
catkin with the tip of the finger, and noting the yellow pollen that
adheres, or rises in a tiny cloud.

Making note of the date when a given variety begins shedding pollen, and
the date when all catkins on the tree have opened, gives the period
during which that variety is effective as a pollinizer.

The female, or pistillate flower, does not, like the catkin, spring
directly from the wood of last season's growth, but occurs at the end of
the ne