Northern Nut Growers Association, Report Of The Proceedings At The Tenth Annual Meeting.: Battle Creek, Michigan, December 9 and 10, 1919
Science
Northern Nut Growers Association, Report Of The Proceedings At The Tenth Annual Meeting.: Battle Creek, Michigan, December 9 and 10, 1919
Northern Nut Growers Association -- Periodicals; Nut trees -- Periodicals; Nuts -- Periodicals
At the present time, the black walnut is regarded as being of greater
promise for planting in the northern states than is any other species
either native or introduced.
THE JAPANESE WALNUT
To a considerable extent this species has been confused with the Persian
walnut, although the two are quite unlike. This is a dwarfish species
with dull green rough leaflets often as many as 15 or 17 per leaf, which
often bears nuts in clusters of a dozen or more. While green the outer
hulls of the nuts are rough, and somewhat sticky.
The Persian walnut is a standard-sized upright growing tree with bright
green leaflets, usually 5 to 7 per leaf, and smooth, round nut hulls
which split open and shed the nuts automatically.
The Japanese walnuts hybridize freely with other species of walnuts and
produce nuts of all types; not infrequently crosses of this kind
resemble butternuts so closely as to be practically indistinguishable
from them.
True Japanese walnuts have a range in form of two distinct types. The
better known is of guinea egg shape; the other, often known as the
heartnut, is of distinct heart shape. Neither is large; the former is of
about the size of a guinea egg or smaller; the latter is still smaller.
Both are like the black walnut in being encased in a rough outer husk,
which upon maturing shrivels and adheres to the surface of the nut. The
shells are thinner than are those of the black walnut, but thicker than
are those of the Persian walnut. When well matured, the shell of the
heartnut tends to open slightly at the apex, after which it can be
readily split in half with a knife blade. The flavor of the kernel is
much like that of the American butternut.
The Japanese walnut is ordinarily hardy wherever the black succeeds. It
is by no means uncommon in Michigan where it is especially appropriate
for family planting. For the present, seedling trees will have to be
relied upon almost wholly, as very few varieties have been propagated.
So far as the writer is informed, the only named variety available from
a northern nursery is the Lancaster introduced by J. F. Jones, a
nurseryman at Lancaster, Pa.
PERSIAN WALNUT
Perhaps no species of nut tree has attracted as great attention in
Michigan as has the Persian walnut. Under some conditions it does well
for a time in the eastern or northeastern states, but on the whole its
performance is distinctly erratic. Commercially speaking, it is of
importance in this country only on the Pacific coast. Trees on the
campus at Michigan Agricultural College and at many private places in
the central part of the state, have come to little. Usually they grow
well in summer only to freeze back nearly as much in winter. In Saranac
County, eastern Michigan, close to Lake Huron there are a few young
orchards that are in good condition, but a half mile back from the lake
the results are discouraging. The same is true next to Lake Michigan
from Grand Rapids south to the Indiana line.
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