walnut into such an
extreme northern latitude as we are in. First, experiments started
thirty years ago, which period gives a reasonable period of time that
any man should feel is necessary to devote to giving a species a
try-out. Secondly, we have used material from every reasonably known
source. Third, persons in charge had a reasonable amount of skill and
success with other varieties to have insured success if the material had
been responsive. My opinion, for what it may be worth, is that the
species is out of its range in this northern latitude, more particularly
because it is too tender to fight its own battles as to insect life
which attacks it, particularly the butternut curculio. Grasshoppers,
leaf eating insects, and worms of different sorts, also attack it more
than they do other nut tree foliage. The possibilities of a break in the
strong cycle of insect life is a hopeful prospect which we are helping
by breeding tens of thousands of toads and frogs. This might allow
some, of the more vigorous specimens to acquire sufficient size to
overcome this weakness. In my opinion, the climate itself is not the
main governing factor which would kill out all hope of raising English
walnuts here; but certainly, coupled with the disastrous attack of
insect life and susceptibility to blight, these three foes are almost
insurmountable. And then in view of the early vegetating habit of these
species, there is the possibility that even though you had a hardy tree,
immune to insects, you would never get much fruit.

Discussion

DR. MacDANIELS: Remember, the climate up around St. Paul is a bit
rugged, and I think that work of that kind is certainly of value to give
us an idea of the limits at which we can grow these trees, but I don't
think that we have by any means explored the whole field.

In the Morris collection at Ithaca there is a little Persian walnut
about the size of the end of this finger (indicating), a very small nut,
that was given to Dr. Morris by a consul from the interior of Asia up in
the Himalaya Mountains in Tibet, from of an elevation of about 10,000
feet. That little walnut had a hard shell, harder than some of our
shellbark hickory nuts, and a bound kernel that I would say was much
less promising than many of the nuts which we discard.

Somewhere, it seems to me, in this vast range of material we ought to be
able to find some variety or clone of these species that would be
adapted to practically eve