English Walnuts | Page 4

to the best time to plant, let it be in the Spring."
[Illustration: THIRTY YEAR OLD PARENT ENGLISH WALNUT
TREES IN BACKGROUND, YOUNG BEARING TREE IN FRONT]
[Sidenote: =Fertilizing=]
We now come to the subject of fertilization. Up to the time when the
young trees come into bearing, cultivation and fertilization will help
them enormously, the cultivation keeping the soil in condition to hold
the moisture of the tree. In fertilizing, a mulch 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