Another subject I wish to mention is that of hardiness in nut trees. In reading the NNGA reports and in some of the letters I have received, I have found that many people confuse killing of the young leaves in the spring by late frosts, with winter hardiness. In my opinion there is no connection at all. I have seen many trees that were not hurt at all by -34 deg.F. in mid-winter yet had all of their leaves killed by a late frost in the spring. In fact all species and varieties of hickory and walnut will have their leaves killed by a hard frost if the leaves have opened out of the buds; this includes our native wild trees as well as the grafted varieties. The only hardiness against late spring frosts is the characteristic of leafing out late, thus escaping most of such frosts. Of the different species, the black walnuts seem to be best protected in this way, with the hickories next and the heartnuts and Persian walnuts least protected. Of course there is a considerable varietal variation within each species. Then the protection we can provide, is to plant nut trees on side hills or other high ground where there is good air drainage, thus avoiding the frost pockets. Of course many want to plant nut trees and have no place except in low frosty sites. To these I say that they can expect to lose an occasional nut crop by these late spring frosts, but that only in exceptional cases will the trees suffer permanent injury. In years when the crops are lost the trees will still be good ornamentals and shade trees. My door yard is quite a frost pocket, yet I have lost only one crop of heartnuts out of four or five crops, no permanent injury to the tree. Yield and Nut Quality of the Common Black Walnut In the Tennessee Valley[12] By Thomas G. Zarger, Tennessee Valley Authority Black walnut occurs on open, non-crop land in the Tennessee Valley region. Trees grow around the farmstead, along fence rows, and in pastures on most farms. In recent years harvesting of walnuts for market from these trees has increased significantly. Looking forward to a fuller utilization of the wild black walnut crop, knowledge on the bearing habits of these open-grown black walnut trees was required. To supply this information a study of tree growth, nut yield, and nut quality was undertaken in 1940. Results on nut yield available from this study after six years are summarized in this report. [Footnote 12: Contribution from TVA Forestry Relations Department, Forestry Investigations Division on a project conducted in the Forest Products Section.]