Part 27 (2/2)
This is only a preliminary or progress report, and should not be taken as final in any respect. Neither does it cover all or near all, of the top-rate hickory varieties. For instance, you will note, the variety named Glover has not been mentioned. This is because our grafts of it have not started to bear yet, so we have no comparable basis for including it in this report. Yet there can be no question as to the merits of Glover, for it is one of the very best. There are, no doubt, many other very excellent varieties not mentioned here.
The hickory is the slowest growing, takes the longest to start to bear, is the nurseryman's headache (it taking about five years to grow stocks large enough to graft or bud, during which time they should have been transplanted at least twice to develop a better root system), they are about (the hardest of the nut species to transplant and their nuts are one of the smallest of the nut species only the filbert and the chestnut being as small). Yet because of their delicious flavor and other good qualities, hickories are probably the favorite nut of more people than any other of the nut species that can be grown in the northern part of this country.
(Applause.)
DR. MacDANIELS: I think we need more reports of that kind to get us oriented with our hickory varieties. I think when we get through with the walnut survey that the hickory nut survey would be next.
MR. CORSAN: Hickory was Dr. Charles S. Sargent's favorite tree, and he planted poison ivy under all of them, and it's there yet and they can't get rid of it. He wanted to keep the boys from gathering the nuts.
DR. MacDANIELS: I have poison ivy under some of mine, but not for that purpose.
MR. McDANIEL: It grows under all good trees.
DR. MacDANIELS: The next paper is one which George Slate kind of foisted off on me. He came around and said he thought something more should be said about the b.u.t.ternut and asked if I would get out a report and discuss the standards for evaluation. That is the reason for this paper, which I will read. It will take only about ten minutes.
How About the b.u.t.ternut?
DR. L. H. MacDANIELS, Ithaca, New York
The purpose in presenting this paper is to summarize what is known about the b.u.t.ternut in the light of my own experience, and to find out from you in discussion what additional facts are available and what some of the problems in the culture of b.u.t.ternuts may be. A good summary by S.
H. Graham is to be found in the 34th Annual report of the Northern Nut Growers a.s.sociation, and short reports appear elsewhere. In general, however, judging from the proceedings of this a.s.sociation, the b.u.t.ternut has not received much attention through the years. The lack of interest in the b.u.t.ternut indicates unsatisfactory experience with this nut on the part of those who have tried to grow and use it. An a.n.a.lysis of its good and bad characteristics is in order.
Of all the species of nuts with which the a.s.sociation is concerned, the b.u.t.ternut is the most hardy and the most likely to succeed on poor soil.
In general, the trees are easy to transplant, are early bearing, sometimes within two years from the graft, and are easy to grow. The flavor of the b.u.t.ternut is very distinctive and palatable, and usually much more flavorful than similar nuts derived from the j.a.panese b.u.t.ternut and the heartnut. Some people consider the b.u.t.ternut flavor the best of all nuts.
On the other hand, the b.u.t.ternut has a reputation for being short lived because of susceptibility to various diseases. The seedling trees which are usually sold are slow in bearing. The common wild nuts are hard to crack with a hammer, and the better named varieties are not well known or widely grown. The trees also have a reputation for being difficult to propagate. Of these faults, probably the difficulty of propagation and cracking are the most important in restricting its use.
Botanically the b.u.t.ternut (_Juglans cinerea_) belongs to a group of species within the genus Juglans that bears its fruit in long cl.u.s.ters or racemes, as contrasted with the walnut group which bears nuts singly or in cl.u.s.ters of two or three. The b.u.t.ternuts also have the fruit and leaves covered with sticky hairs instead of being smooth. The group is further characterized by having a cus.h.i.+on of hairs above the leaf scars and pointed terminal buds on the twigs. Other species within the group are the j.a.panese b.u.t.ternut _J. Sieboldiana_, its variety _cordiformis_, the heartnut, and several less well known species including _J.
mandshurica_ and _J. cathayensis_, both native to central Asia. These closely related species apparently hybridize with each other, but accurate information as to the nature and extent of such hybridization is not available.
The natural geographical range of the b.u.t.ternut covers a broad area of Northeastern North America, extending from New Brunswick southward to the mountains of Georgia and westward to Western Ontario, Dakota, and Arkansas. In this range it is most frequent in calcareous soils, reaching its best development in rich woodland, but persisting on poorer upland soils also. It thus has the most northern range of our native nut species, along with the Pignut, _Carya glabra_, and one species of hazelnut, _Corylus rostrata_. The other related species are of variable and uncertain hardiness and are not reliable in this northern range.
It is recognized that the b.u.t.ternut has little commercial value except as it is used in the New England states, particularly in Vermont, where it is combined with maple sugar in making maple-b.u.t.ternut candy. Anyone who has travelled through the New England states is familiar with the roadside advertising of this excellent product. On the general market, b.u.t.ternut kernels are not sold in quant.i.ty comparable to those of the black walnut, but are somewhat comparable to the kernels of the hickory which also do not have a commercial outlet except locally.
The greatest use of the b.u.t.ternut is, and will continue to be, for the home grounds and local consumption. I think it is highly probable that if the easy cracking varieties already named were better known, they would be much more widely planted. The common wild b.u.t.ternuts are really difficult to handle. They crack only after considerable hammering with a heavy hammer and then, when cracked, the kernels shatter to such an extent that recovery is very unsatisfactory for the labor expended.
After b.u.t.ternuts have been gathered from the wild with some enthusiasm during the fall months, they often remain in the cellar or attic without ever being used. Even the squirrels and the rats will not go to the bother of extracting the kernels if other nuts are available.
For best results the nuts are usually cracked with a heavy hammer, the nut being held vertically against a solid vice or block, so it can be hit on the end. A glove to protect the fingers holding the nut is useful if many are to be cracked. Good results can be secured by holding the nut on its side and tapping it on the suture. This, however is difficult, as it necessitates shucking the nut and even then it is difficult to identify the suture.
Through the years many varieties of b.u.t.ternut have been named. Mr. R. L.
Watts in the 35th annual report of the a.s.sociation lists 26 names, and I am sure there are others. I personally have had experience with only three or four varieties. One of these, the Crax-ezy, has borne good crops and the nuts crack well. Another one, which I have named the Johnson, coming from Tonawanda, New York, cracks well but is a smaller nut. At one time I had Thill variety topworked on _Juglans Sieboldiana_ stock, but the stock was killed by cold winter. Samples of Kinnyglen and Mandeville were furnished by Mr. Graham for testing. We do not, however, have any comparative rating of many varieties based on comparative tests, nor are there recognized standards of quality.
In order to set up standards of quality for b.u.t.ternuts, the following tentative schedule for judging has been worked out along the same lines as the schedule for judging black walnuts. Twenty-five nuts are used in a sample and the score is made up of the weight in grams of the kernels recovered on the first crack, plus total weight of kernels divided by 2, plus 1/2 point for each whole half kernel recovered. A nut should not be considered worthy of propagation unless practically all of the kernels come out in whole halves.
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