BEGINNING WITH NUTS

DR. W. C. DEMING, WESTCHESTER, NEW YORK CITY

In his official capacity as secretary of the Northern Nut Growers
Association the writer is frequently asked, by persons wishing to grow
nuts, about climate, soils, varieties and methods.

The following observations are intended to apply only to the
northeastern United States, the country lying east of the Rockies and
north of the range of the southern pecan. They are intended more for the
person who already has his land, or is restricted in his range, than for
the one who can range wide for larger operations and will study deeper
before deciding.

It is probable that most nuts will grow wherever the peach will. Outside
the peach area there is probably not much use in trying to grow the
pecan or Persian walnut. Yet it must always be remembered that nut
growing in the North is, at present, almost entirely experimental and
that anybody may be able to disprove the authorities. We are all
experimenting now. By and by it will be different.

In severer climates the chestnut, shagbark, black walnut, butternut,
hazel, beech, pine, Japanese cordiformis and hardy Chinese walnuts can
be grown or, at least, offer possibilities. In such climates the
development of the native nuts by selection and crossing, and the
adaptation of alien nuts, deserves, and will repay, experiment.

It is to be supposed, as before said, that the hopeful beginner already
has his land. Let him choose the best part of it that he can spare. By
"best part" is meant the most fertile, not too wet nor too dry nor, if
possible, too hilly to cultivate. Hard pan near the surface, and too
thick to be easily broken up by dynamite, is not desirable.

A nut orchard ought to have much the same preparation as an apple
orchard. A practical way would be to plow deeply and harrow well in
summer and sow a cover crop like rye and vetch or clover. The more
stable manure, or other fertilizer, applied the better.

Let the field now be staked off thirty feet apart in squares, or in
triangles if preferred. Late in the fall dig the holes and plant nuts,
three or four in each hole, two to four inches deep, according to size,
and six inches apart. Put a good handful of ground bone in each hill.
Unless the soil and subsoil are mellow, so that the long tap roots may
penetrate deeply, it would be best to dynamite the holes, using a half
pound of 20 per cent or 25 per cent dynamite at a depth of two and a