English Walnuts | Page 4

of stable manure in the Fall is considered by most growers to be the best, but the following preparation is thought to be exceptionally good for all young orchards:
Dried blood, 1,000 pounds; bone meal, 550 pounds; sulphate of potash, 350 pounds. Total, 2,000 pounds. This should be applied close up and about the tree, extending out each year in a circle somewhat beyond the spread of the branches.
This provides a quickly available plant food, rich in nitrogen and especially recommended for rapid growth.
After the tap-root reaches the sub-soil moisture it is well able to take care of the tree; and both cultivation and fertilization may then be stopped. In fact, by this time practically no further care is needed in the nut orchard with the exception of that required at the harvesting time, and this is a pleasant and easy occupation, especially in the Northern and Eastern states where the frost opens the shuck and the nuts drop free upon the ground where they may be picked up and put into sacks of 110 to 120 pounds each, ready for the market.
Just before the first frost it is a very good idea to remove all leaves from the ground so that when the nuts fall they can be readily seen and gathered. An excellent method of accomplishing this is by means of a horse and rake. The nuts may be left on the ground to dry or may be removed to any convenient place for that purpose.
[Sidenote: =The Different Kinds=]
There are three distinct kinds of English Walnuts--hard-shell, soft-shell and paper-shell, the soft-shell being the best. Each of these three is divided into a number of varieties, the names of some of the more popular ones being the Barthere, Chaberte, Cluster, Drew, Ford, Franquette, Gant or Bijou, Grand Noblesse, Lanfray, Mammoth, Mayette, Wiltz Mayette, Mesange, Meylan, Mission, Parisienne, Poorman, Proeparturiens, Santa Barbara, Pomeroy, Serotina, Sexton, Vourey, Concord, Chase and the Eureka.
The question of the best varieties for planting in the North as well as in the South is somewhat open to discussion, due largely to a lack of sufficient information in regard to some of the more promising kinds. There is but little question that the best proven variety for the Northwest is the Franquette and for the East and Northeast, the Pomeroy. Both of these are good producers bearing a fine nut, well filled with a white meat of excellent flavor, and of good shape and commanding the highest market prices. The two varieties are also very late in starting in the Spring making them safe against the late frosts. Their pistillate and staminate blossoms mature at the same time.
[Illustration: ENGLISH WALNUTS BEAR IN CLUSTERS OF TWO TO FIVE]
The white-meated nut is far superior to any other. The browning or staining is caused by the extremely dry heat and sun in the far South. In the North or where the tree has an abundant thick foliage the meat is invariably whiter.
[Sidenote: =The Mission Nut=]
The Mission Nut was introduced by the priests of Los Angeles and is the pioneer Persian Walnut of California. Most of the bearing orchards of the state are composed of seedling trees of this type. The nut is medium-sized with a hard shell of ordinary thickness. It succeeds admirably in a few favored districts (of Southern California) but fails in productiveness farther North. Its most prominent faults are--early blooming, in consequence of which it is often caught by the late frosts; the irregular and unequal blooming of its pistillate and staminate blossoms, and the consequent failure of the former to be fertilized and to develop nuts; and lateness in ripening its wood in the Fall and consequent liability to injury by frost at that time.
[Sidenote: =The Santa Barbara Nut=]
The Santa Barbara English Walnut (soft-shell) variety is about ten days later than the Mission in starting growth and in blooming in the Spring. It fruits from four to six years from seed and usually produces a full crop every year. It is not as strong a grower as the Mission and more trees can be grown to the acre. The shells are thin and easily broken, therefore the nuts are sometimes damaged in long shipment. The kernel is white and of very fine quality.
[Sidenote: =The Pomeroy Nut=]
The Pomeroy variety was started in a most peculiar and interesting way. The late Norman Pomeroy of Lockport, New York, made the discovery quite by accident. When he was in Philadelphia in 1876 visiting the Centennial Exposition, he awoke one morning to be greeted by the leaves of a gorgeous tree, which just touched his window and through which the sun shone brightly. He soon was examining a magnificent English Walnut tree. On the ground directly under he found the nuts, which had fallen during the night. Their flavor was more delicious