Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Second Annual Meeting | Page 8

compared with
budding is the length of time required for seedling trees to come into
bearing, propagation from roots probably requiring the same length of
time as propagation from seed, whereas by budding or grafting the
bearing period begins very much earlier. Forty-six years ago Mr. J. W.
Kerr of Denton, Maryland, planted three pecks of large shagbark
hickory nuts, but of the progeny only about twenty were satisfactory,
most of the trees bearing inferior nuts. These trees required from
thirteen to eighteen years to come into bearing, and young trees that Mr.
Kerr purchased from nurseries and planted were twenty-five years old
before they began to bear. Others who have planted shagbark hickories
and pecans state that nearly twenty years are required for the trees to
come into bearing on an average. When budded or grafted the pecan
sometimes comes into bearing in two years, and frequently in four

years. We may anticipate that other hickories will act analogously.
The hickories prefer rich, well drained soil for best development of nuts,
and an abundance of moisture, provided the land is well drained. Many
of the hickories, however, are so adaptable to various soils that they
often thrive in lands that are sandy, and dry, and almost barren. In the
latter case, they have to maintain an enormous root system for feeding
purposes, and this is detrimental to good bearing qualities. The
mocker-nut, pignut, and hairy hickory, perhaps adapt themselves best
to sandy soils. This feature may make them valuable species for
planting when one has no other soil, because the stocks can be used for
grafting better kinds.
While the hickories prefer neutral or alkaline soil, most of them will
grow fairly well even in acid glacial tills. Their preference, however,
for neutral or alkaline soils would suggest the use of a good deal of
lime in acid soils, when hickories are to be grown in orchard form.
All of the trees in the hickory group are intolerant of shade and of
competition with other trees. The more sunlight they can have the
better. Most of us are familiar with the hickory tree standing alone in
the cultivated field, which bears a heavy annual crop, when the
neighbors at the edge of the forest bear sparingly. Hickories in forest
growth put their energies into the formation of wood chiefly, and in the
struggle for food and light devote very little energy to fruiting.
The best method for cultivation of hickories has been worked out only
with the pecan up to the present time. With this species, it has been
determined that clean cultivation with plenty of fertilization gives best
results, as with apples. It is probable that Stringfellow's sod culture
method will come next in order, and will perhaps be most generally
used by nut orchardists, because it is less expensive and requires less
labor. The sod culture method includes the idea of cutting all grass and
weeds beneath the trees, in order to take away competition, allowing
these vegetable substances to decompose beneath the trees and furnish
food. There is no objection to adding artificial fertilizer, or a still
greater amount of vegetable matter.

The enemies of the hickories are not many in the forest, where the
balance of nature is maintained, but when man disturbs the balance of
nature by planting hickories in large numbers in orchard form certain
enemies increase, and must be met by our resources. Fungous and
bacterial enemies are beginning to menace some varieties of the pecan
in the South, and both in the North and in the South certain insect
enemies are becoming important in relation to all valuable hickories.
The bark boring beetle (Scolytus) has been reported as destructive to
hickories in some sections, the trees dying as a result of depredations of
the larvae of this beetle.
I find a large borer at work on some of my hickories, but have not as
yet determined its species. It may be the painted hickory borer (Cylene),
or the locust borer. It makes a hole as large as a small lead pencil,
directly into the trunk or limbs, and excavates long tunnels into the
heart wood. The painted hickory borer is supposed to occur chiefly on
dead and dying hickories, but the borer of which I speak is found in the
vigorous young hickories in the vicinity of my locusts, which are
riddled with locust borers.
In some localities involucre borers make tunnels between the nut and
the involucre, interfering with the development of the kernel.
The hickory twig girdler (Oncideres) is abundant in some localities, but
not as yet very destructive.
Hickory nut weevils destroy many nuts in some localities, and their
colonies increase about individual trees markedly. In such cases, it is
important to collect the entire crop each year from a