nty.

Experiences with Tree Crops in Meigs County, Tennessee

W. A. SHADOW, Meigs County Agent, Decatur, Tennessee

Mr. Shadow: Mr. Chairman and members of the Nut Growers Association: As
President Davidson announced, I am an agricultural agent. About twelve
years ago I thought it would be good to have a hobby, and since I was
born and reared in the nursery world propagating fruit trees and
ornamentals, and due to the fact that John Hershey came by one day and
talked to me about the tree crops in the Tennessee Valley, it struck me
just right, and I have made that my hobby.

You know, every man who has a job gets fed up on his job and needs to
get out and play with himself, or something else, to forget his
troubles. So I find in propagating nut trees, top-working them, if you
will, top-working trees where I find them to named varieties, is very
interesting to me.

John Hershey taught me the technique of grafting nut trees. I had
grafted and budded in all kinds of ornamentals and fruits, but I needed
training in nut trees. So in the spring of 1935, I guess, I grafted
about a hundred Thomas black walnut on trees where I found them in the
woodland. At the same time I grafted maybe a hundred Japanese persimmon
of possibly a dozen varieties on the common native persimmon. I
purchased three, four, maybe five Japanese persimmons and planted these
trees in the spring of 1935. All these persimmons, maybe 60 or 70 of
them, grew nicely. The Thomas grew very well, and the winter of 1939 or
1940, I don't recall just which, was rather severe. We had below-zero
weather, and all of my persimmons were killed--I thought. The next year
I found a persimmon tree up in the woods with maybe a peck of great big
nice persimmons and later I found that that was a Fuyugaki persimmon.
All the rest of mine were winter killed. Those that I purchased were
winter killed the first year. I don't know why. I grafted the persimmon
about 5 feet high. Those that were grafted at the ground I noticed
winter killed the first year, and these that are grafted up about
shoulder high seemed to live three or four years before they winter
killed, and the one variety that survived as Mr. Kline and Mr. Chase, or
someone, has told, is Fuyugaki, I believe. I have a Tamopan persimmon, a
great big, nice persimmon about so big, but bitter as the dickens, and
about the only thing I think it is good for is to look at. It is pretty.
But the Fuyugaki is never bitter