w growth of the current year, being preceded by a number of leaves
which nourish the young nut to maturity.

The pistillate blossom assumes the form of one or more tiny nutlets with
little sharp-pointed tips. When the blossom has become receptive to
pollen, each tip has separated into two separate pistils which spread
apart and present fresh, slightly sticky surfaces, which are known as
stigmas. This is the time that pollination can take place, which period
continues until the stigmas have lost their freshness and stickiness.
This period marks the time during which pollination can occur.

In many cases Persian walnut trees remain barren when planted alone, not
because of incompatibility between the pollen and the pistillate flower,
but because pollen shedding and receptivity do not occur at the same
time. Sometimes pollen shedding is over before pistils are receptive.
Such blooming is termed protandrous by botanists. In about an equal
number of cases the pistils lose their receptivity before pollen is
shed. Such blooming is termed protogynous. There are quite a number of
varieties, however, that mature both types of blossoms simultaneously,
in which the variety is self-fertile and will produce crops, even if
isolated from other trees of the species. Of these Hanson and Bedford
are representative. On some other trees there is some overlapping of the
shedding and receptive periods, enough to produce partial, but not full
crops.

Warm weather hastens blooming; cool cloudy weather retards it. A warm
spell may start blossoming early, but if broken by a cool wave the
period of bloom may be greatly extended.

A southern exposure with a light soil will cause a variety to blossom
earlier by some days than in the same locality in heavy soil. The
blossoming period is generally shorter in the North than in the South.

Climax, Michigan reports blooming beginning May 10 and ending May 31, a
period of 21 days. Millerton, N. Y., and Massillon, Ohio, report the
same.

Urbana, Ill., reports blooming beginning May 5 and ending June 1, a
period of 27 days.

At Roanoke, Va., the period begins April 9 and ends May 10, running 31
days.

At Greensboro, North Carolina, the season began April 2 and ended May 5,
a total of 33 days.

The report of Mr. Royal Oakes of Bluffs, Ill., is unique in the
shortness of the blossoming period, both of individual varieties and as
a whole. Blossoming began April 29 and ended (estimated) May 13, a
pe