Beginning at the Atlantic seaboard at Massachusetts Bay curving slightly northward then westward across northeastern New York to Toronto and on westward across lower Ontario, Lake Huron, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, in which state the line curves south-westward, crossing about the northwest corner of Iowa. From this point the line runs approximately south across the eastern parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. As the line approaches the Gulf of Mexico it turns eastward, crossing the southern parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, back again to the Atlantic. The natural range of the black walnut may be said to have been limited on the north by winter cold, on the west by lack of sufficient rainfall and on the south by a winter climate too mild for the required dormant rest period. Where these limitations are removed the American black walnut appears to do well far out of its natural range. In its native state it seemed to thrive best along water-ways and in hollows among the hills and mountains, though it was also to be found on the uplands wherever the soil was fertile and other conditions favorable. The overflow of streams undoubtedly did much to distribute and plant the seed, aided always by the ubiquitous squirrel. Twenty-nine of the States reported the trees as thrifty and bearing well-filled nuts. Eastern Maryland reported the trees as thrifty but the nut crop light. Michigan reports the nuts as having been well filled formerly, but poor in recent years. West Virginia makes a similar report, and attributes poor crops to the presence of anthracnose, a fungus disease of the leaves causing early defoliation. The nut crop of the wild trees appears to be ungathered to a large extent, taking the country as a whole. Eleven states report whole husked nuts being marketed in a limited way and six report the marketing of home-produced kernels. Prices for the whole nuts are quoted as low as $2.00 per bushel, with a top of $5.00 per bushel for Kansas-produced named varieties. Accurate statistics as to whole nut and kernel production are not available. Tennessee reports black walnut cracking plants, as follows: One each at Lebanon and Morristown, and three located at Nashville. A West Virginia report estimates the State's kernel production at $200,000 per annum. A cracking plant in St. Louis is reported as processing 1-1/2 million pounds of whole nuts annually, for which it pays 5-1/2 cents per pound. Other cracking plants reported are one at Stanford, Kentucky, one at Broadway, Virginia and one or two in West Virginia, location unstated. No statement was received as to the amount of business done by these. A new one is starting operations at Henderson, Kentucky in 1951.