The Nut Culturist: A Treatise on Propogation, Planting, and Cultivation of Nut Bearing Trees and Shrubs Adapted to the Climate of the United StatesFuller, Andrew S. (Andrew Samuel)
Science
The Nut Culturist: A Treatise on Propogation, Planting, and Cultivation of Nut Bearing Trees and Shrubs Adapted to the Climate of the United States
Fuller, Andrew S. (Andrew Samuel)
Nuts
In addition to those described, there are a large number of
varieties, which may be worth importing and testing in this country,
by those who may feel inclined to make experiments with these nuts.
Probably some of those highly extolled by earlier writers are now
lost, but this cannot be determined until a careful search through
the old European gardens has been made.
Among the early-fruiting or precocious varieties we find an account
of one raised by Anthony Carlisle, of England, as recorded in a
paper read at a meeting of the Horticultural Society of London,
March 3, 1812. Mr. Carlisle planted six nuts in March, 1802, these
having been received from Mr. Thomas Wedgewood of Blandford. Six
years later, or in 1808, one of the seedlings bore and matured ten
walnuts, and the next season (1809) upwards of fifty, and in 1810
one hundred and twelve, the tree at that age being nineteen feet
seven and one-half inches high. Another variety, under the name of
Highflyer walnut, is described in the Transactions of the same
society, Vol. IV, 1822, p. 517. The nuts sent to the society were
grown in the town of Thetford, and are described as a long oval,
with a shell so very thin that the slightest pressure of the fingers
crushes it. I find that this Highflyer walnut is mentioned in the
recently published "Dictionary of Gardening," but whether obtainable
in English nurseries or not we are left in doubt.
I refer to these English varieties mainly to show that some of the
very best and thinnest-shelled walnuts have been grown in cool
climates, and are not confined entirely to the warm or
semi-tropical, as many persons seem to suppose and even claim to be
the fact. It is principally from these English walnuts, as they are
usually termed, that our hardy old-bearing trees, referred to
elsewhere, have been produced, and, doubtless, many more will be,
when we begin to pay some attention to this very valuable nut. It is
also quite likely that when our horticulturists look about for
choice acclimated varieties for propagation, they will be found
right here in the grounds of next-door neighbors, and there may be
no necessity of sending to Europe or elsewhere for either nuts or
trees.
At present there is much confusion and uncertainty in regard to the
identity and nomenclature of both species and varieties of the
walnut, and it must remain so until they are collected from all
countries and climes, of which they are either native or into which
they have been introduced, and when so collected, and fruiting
specimens produce, it will not be difficult to classify and
determine their synonyms. This will be an undertaking scarcely to be
expected of the individual nut culturist, but is within the
legitimate line of the arboretum, and of public botanical gardens
located in both cold and warm climates, thereby securing a division
of labor, and at the same time avoiding the uncertainty of trying to
produce practical results under uncongenial conditions and
surroundings.
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