Growing Nuts in the North Part 4

Of the hiccans, hybrids between hickory and pecan, there are several varieties, as I mentioned before. Of these, the McAlester is the most outstanding, its nuts measuring over three inches in circ.u.mference and about three inches long. Horticulturists believe that this hybrid is the result of a cross between a sh.e.l.l-bark hickory, which produces the largest nut of any hickory growing in the United States, and a large pecan. I have experimented a number of times with the McAlester and my conclusion is that it is not hardy enough to advocate its being grown in this climate. There are other hiccans hardier than it is, however, such as the Rockville, Burlington, Green Bay and Des Moines, and it is certain that the North is a.s.sured of hardy pecans and a few hardy hybrids, which, although they do not bear the choicest pecan nuts, make interesting and beautiful lawn trees. Indeed, as an ornamental tree, the pecan is superior to the native hickory in two definite ways: by its exceedingly long life, which may often reach over 150 years as contrasted with the average hickory span of 100 years, and by its greater size. One pecan tree I saw growing in Easton, Maryland, in 1927, for example, was then seventeen feet in circ.u.mference at breast-height, one hundred twenty-five feet in height and having a spread of one hundred fifty feet. The wood of the pecan is similar to that of the hickory in both toughness and specific gravity, although for practical purposes, such as being used for tool handles, the s.h.a.gbark hickory is enough harder and tougher to make it the superior of the two.

I was pleasantly surprised on October 30, 1953 when a pecan seedling of the Iowa origin, which had not yet borne any nuts, showed a small crop.

These nuts were fully matured and were of sufficient size so that they could be considered a valuable new variety of pecan nut for the North. A plate showing a few of these pecans ill.u.s.trates, by means of a ruler, the actual size of these pecans, and the fact that they matured so well by October 30 indicates that in many seasons they may be relied upon to mature their crop. No other data has been acquired on this variety and we can only be thankful that we can expect it to do a little better in size as successive crops appear, which is the usual way of nut trees.

Also, by fertilizing this tree we can expect bigger nuts, as is generally the case. The sh.e.l.l of this pecan is so thin that it can be easily cracked with the teeth, which I have done repeatedly, and although small is thinner-sh.e.l.led than any standard pecan.

Chapter 7

HICKORY THE KING

The acknowledged autocrat of all the native nuts is the hickory. Perhaps not all the experts admit this leadership but it is certainly the opinion held by most people. Of course, when I speak of the hickory nut in this high regard, I refer to the s.h.a.gbark hickory which, as a wild tree, is native as far north as the 43rd parallel in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and somewhat farther in the eastern states.

Wild hickory nuts have been commercialized only to a slight extent. Its crops are almost entirely consumed in the locality in which they are grown by those people who find great pleasure in spending fine autumn days gathering them. The obvious reason why hickory nuts have not been made a product of commerce lies in the nut itself, which is usually very small and which has a sh.e.l.l so strong and thick that the kernel can be taken out only in small pieces. The toughness of the sh.e.l.l makes cracking difficult, too, and since only rarely is one found that can be broken by a hand cracker, it is necessary to use the flatiron-and-hammer method. It is quite possible, though, that some day the hickory will rival or exceed its near relative, the wild pecan, in commercial favor.

The wild pecans which formerly came on the market at Christmastime in mixtures of nuts were just as difficult to extract from their sh.e.l.ls as the wild s.h.a.gbark hickory nuts are now. By means of selection and cultivation, the pecan was changed from a small, hard-to-crack nut to that of a large thin-sh.e.l.led nut whose kernel was extractable in whole halves. Among many thousands of wild pecan trees were a few which bore exceptionally fine nuts, nuts similar to those now found at every grocery store and called "papersh.e.l.l" pecans. These unusual nuts were propagated by grafting twigs from their parent trees on ordinary wild pecan trees whose own nuts were of less value. These grafted trees were set out in orchards where they produce the millions of pounds of high-grade pecans now on the market.

The question which naturally occurs is, "Why hasn't this been done with hickory nuts?" Hundreds of attempts have been made to do so, by the greatest nut propagators in the United States. They have been successful in grafting outstanding varieties of hickory to wild root stocks but the time involved has prevented any practical or commercial success, since most grafted hickories require a period of growth from ten to twenty years before bearing any nuts. This length of time contrasts very unfavorably with that required by grafted pecans which produce nuts on quite young trees, frequently within three to five years after grafting.

This factor of slow growth has set the pecan far ahead of the tasty s.h.a.gbark hickory. Experimenters have long thought to reduce the time required by the hickory to reach maturity by grafting it to fast-growing hickory roots such as the bitternut or the closely related pecan. Both of these grow rapidly and the bitternut has the additional advantage of growing farther north and of being transplanted more easily. It has always been thought that when a good variety of s.h.a.gbark hickory had been successfully grafted to bitternut root stocks, orchards of hickory trees would soon appear. This takes me to my discovery of the variety now known as the Weschcke hickory, which I have found fulfills the necessary conditions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Shows exceptionally thin sh.e.l.l of Weschcke hickory variety. Drawing by Wm. Kuehn_]

One fall day in 1926, when I was at the home of a neighboring farmer, he offered me some mixed hickory nuts he had received from an uncle in Iowa. As he knew of my interest in nuts, he wanted my opinion of them. I looked them over and explained that they were no better than little nutmegs, having very hard sh.e.l.ls and a small proportion of inaccessible meat. To demonstrate this, I cracked some between hammer and flatiron.

My demonstration was conclusive until I hit one nut which almost melted under the force I was applying. The shape of this nut was enough different from the others to enable me to pick out a handful like it from the mixture. I was amazed to see how very thin-sh.e.l.led and full of meat they were. Upon my request, this neighbor wrote to his uncle, John Bailey, of Fayette, Iowa, asking if he knew from which tree such fine nuts had come. Unfortunately he did not, because the nuts had been gathered from quite a large area. After corresponding with Mr. Bailey myself, I decided that I would go there and help him locate the tree, although it was nearly Christmas and heavy snowfalls which already covered the ground would make our search more difficult.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Carl Weschcke, Jr., hand holding Weschcke hickory in hull. 9/15/42 Photo by C. Weschcke_]

On my arrival in Fayette, I called on Mr. Bailey, who was glad to help me hunt out the tree in which I had so much interest. We called A. C.

Fobes, the owner of the farm from which the nuts were believed to have come, and arranged to go out there with him by bob sleigh. A rough ride of six or seven miles brought us to the farm and we began our quest.

Once there, Mr. Bailey had a more definite idea of where to look for the tree from which these particular nuts came than he had had before and we had not been at our task for more than an hour before it was located.

There were still quite a few nuts on the ground beneath it, which identified it accurately. It was a large s.h.a.gbark whose first living branch was fully sixteen feet off the ground and, since we had no ladder with us, I had to shin up the tree to cut off some of the smaller branches. This s.h.a.gbark, true to its name, had rough bark which tore not only my clothes but some of the skin on my legs as well and whereas the climbing up was difficult, the coming down was equally so. Having contracted verbally with Mr. Fobes to buy the tree, I packed the branches I had cut in cardboard boxes with straw packing and carefully brought them home to St. Paul.

I wrote at once to my friend, J. F. Jones, of my expedition, telling him of my plans to propagate this hickory. I also sent him some of the nuts from the parent tree and samples of extra-good nuts from other trees growing near it so that he could give me his opinion of them. Mr. Jones responded by advising me about the kind of a contract to make with Mr.

Fobes in regard to both the purchasing and propagation of the original hickory tree and he urged the latter enthusiastically. Of the Weschcke hickory nuts themselves, he wrote: "This is practically identical with the Glover. The Glover is usually a little larger but this varies in all nuts from year to year. This is a fine nut and if it comes from Iowa, it ought to be propagated. I suggest you keep the stock of it and propagate the tree for northern planting, that is for Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc., where most nuts grown here would not mature." A few years ago, I saw the Glover hickory nut for the first time and I also thought it much the same as the Weschcke in shape, as is also the Brill.

Because I did not know how to preserve the scions I had cut, they dried out during the winter to such an extent that they were worthless for spring grafting. This meant losing a whole season. The next fall I obtained more scionwood from Mr. Fobes and having kept it in good condition during the winter by storing it in a Harrington graft box shown by ill.u.s.tration, I was able to graft it in the spring. However, these grafts did not take hold well, only two or three branches resulting from all of it and these did not bear nor even grow as they should have. I was disappointed and discouraged, writing to Mr. Fobes that I did not believe the tree could be propagated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _This drawing ill.u.s.trates how to build a Harrington graft storage box_]

In the fall of 1932, Mr. Fobes sent me a large box of scions and branches, explaining that he had sold his farm and, as the tree might be cut down, this was my last opportunity to propagate it. Without much enthusiasm, I grafted the material he had sent me on about a dozen trees, some of them very large hickories and I was most agreeably surprised to find the grafting successful and more than one branch bearing nutlets. These nuts dropped off during the summer until only one remained to mature, which it did in the latter part of October. But I waited too long to pick that nut and some smart squirrel, which had probably been watching it ripen as diligently as I had, secured it first. I made a very thorough search of the ground nearby to find the remains of it, for while I knew I would not get a taste of the kernel--the squirrel would take care of that--I was interested in finding out whether it followed the exact shape and thinness of sh.e.l.l of the first nuts I had examined. I finally did find part of it, enough to see that it was similar to the nuts from the parent tree.

The grafts I made in 1932 have been bearing nuts every year since that time. The Weschcke hickory makes a tremendous growth grafted on bitternut hickory (Carya Cordiformis). The wood and buds are hardy to a temperature of 47 below zero Fahrenheit, so that wherever the wild bitternut hickory grow, this grafted tree will survive to bear its thin-sh.e.l.led nuts. The nuts have a fine flavor and the unusual quality of retaining this flavor without becoming rancid, for three years. The only fault to find with them is the commercial one of being only medium in size, so that compared to English walnuts, for example, they become unimpressive. I have noticed time and again that the average person will pa.s.s over a small, sweet nut to choose a larger one even though the latter may not have as attractive a flavor. This is noticeably true in regard to pecans, when the large paper-sh.e.l.l types, which have a rather dry, sweet kernel, are almost invariably preferred to the smaller ones of finer flavor, which are plump and have slightly thicker sh.e.l.ls.

Previous to finding the Weschcke hickory, I experimented with several varieties of hickory hybrids. In March 1924, I purchased twelve Beaver and twelve Fairbanks hybrid hickories from J. F. Jones. I planted these trees in April of that year but of the lot, only two Beaver trees lived to bear nuts. One of these is still growing on my farm, in thin, clay soil underlaid with limestone, and it bears nuts annually. It is only a fair-sized tree but I think its slow growth has protected it from the usual amount of winter damage. I also ordered from Mr. Jones, in July 1924, 12 Marquardt hiccans, 12 Laney, 12 Siers, 34 Beaver and 30 Fairbanks. The last four are hybrids between species of hickories. Out of the whole order, amounting to one hundred trees, none remains alive now.

The Marquardt hiccan mentioned above was the subject of dispute among nut culturists for a time but it has been definitely agreed now, that the Marquardt was never actually propagated, the tree having been lost or cut down before scions were taken from it. Subst.i.tutes were taken from the Burlington, a hybrid whose nut is similar to the Marquardt and whose foliage and other attributes are thought to be like it. The name of Marquardt persisted for several years, however, and it has been entirely discarded only recently. The Burlington is now known to be the representative of that part of Iowa. However, I grafted some of the tops of the Marquardt trees from Jones to bitternut trees at the time that I transplanted them; several of the grafts made successful growth and resulted in several trees growing deep in the woods. After 28 years these grafts are still alive and certainly have established their right to be called compatible with bitternut hickory stocks. Close examination of the branches, leaves and buds, particularly the leaf-scars, indicate that this hiccan is enough different and more hardy than the Burlington, which also grows well on the bitternut, to discredit the story that the Marquardt is lost. It will not be determined, however, that this is the genuine Marquardt until it has fruited.

Altogether I have grafted about 70 varieties of hickory and its hybrids on bitternut stocks in my attempts to increase the number of varieties of cultured hickory trees in the North. Most of those I worked with were compatible with the bitternut stock, but a few, perhaps a dozen, have indicated that they would rather not live on the bitternut and have died, either from incompatibility or winter-killing. Yet as a root system, the bitternut is the hardiest and easiest to transplant of any of the hickories and for these reasons it makes an ideal stock for the amateur nut-grower to use. I did try, in 1926, to grow some s.h.a.gbark hickory stocks, which would be more compatible with those varieties I could not get started on bitternut. I planted half a bushel of s.h.a.gbark hickory nuts from Iowa, but although they sprouted nicely, they were not sufficiently hardy and were winter-killed so severely that, after twelve years, the largest was not more than a foot high, nor thicker than a lead pencil. Some of these, about 50, were transplanted into the orchard and in other favorable locations. The largest of these, in 1952, is about 4 inches in diameter, 1-foot off the ground, and about 15 feet high. I have not grafted any yet and only one has borne any seedling nuts so far. I am now reconciled to using my native bitternut trees for most of my stock in spite of some disadvantages. A list of successfully grafted varieties is appended, and indicates to what extent this stock is a universal root stock for most of the hickories and their hybrids. A successful union, however, and long life, does not mean that good bearing habits will be established, since most of these trees grow in the woods in dense shade and poor surroundings. Some varieties have not borne many nuts, and some not at all. The following scions were cut this fall (in 1952) from successfully grafted trees deep in the woods:

Bixby hiccan (pecan by sh.e.l.lbark) grafted in 1938 Burlington hiccan (pecan by sh.e.l.lbark) grafted in 1938 Green Bay hiccan (pecan by sh.e.l.lbark) grafted in 1938 Des Moines hiccan (pecan by sh.e.l.lbark) grafted in 1938 Burton hiccan (pecan by sh.e.l.lbark) grafted in 1939 McAlester hiccan (pecan by sh.e.l.lbark) grafted in 1938 Anthony s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1938 Barnes s.h.a.gbark by mocker nut grafted in 1938 Brill s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1936 Brooks s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1938 Camp No. 2 s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1938 (?) Deveaux s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1936 Fox s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Glover s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1936 Gobble s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1940 Hand s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Harman s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Leonard s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Lingenfelter s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1942 Manahan s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Milford s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Murdock s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1941 Netking s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1938 Platman s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1938 Pleas Pecan by bitternut grafted in 1938 Schinnerling s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1942 Stanley Sh.e.l.lbark hickory grafted in 1939 Swaim s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1941 Taylor s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Triplett s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1939 Woods grafted in 1939

The varieties below are growing in orchard or random locations out of the woods:

Beaver Hybrid hickory grafted in 1924 Cedar Rapids s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1926 Clark s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1938 Fairbanks hybrid s.h.a.gbark by bitternut grafted in 1924 Herman Last Hybrid grafted in 1948 Hope pecan Pure pecan grafted to bitternut grafted in 1938 Kirtland s.h.a.gbark hickory grafted in 1936 Laney Pecan by sh.e.l.lbark grafted in 1936 Marquardt Hiccan grafted in 1924 Norton Hiccan grafted in 1938 River hickory Undetermined hybrid grafted in 1948 Rockville hiccan Pecan by sh.e.l.lbark grafted in 1926 Siers Mockernut by bitternut grafted in 1936 Stratford s.h.a.gbark by bitternut grafted in 1938 Weiker hybrid s.h.a.gbark by sh.e.l.lbark grafted in 1936

In addition to the above, several large and small trees of the Weschcke variety are located in orchard and random locations, some having been grafted in 1926 and later. Also, there is a sprinkling of Bridgewater variety, grafted in 1936 and later, all bearing each year.

For many years, I observed hickories and walnuts in bloom and hand-pollinated them, yet I overlooked many things I should have discovered earlier in study. It was only after ten years of observing the Weschcke hickory, for example, that I realized the importance of proper pollinization of it. In years when it produced only a few nuts, I had blamed seasonal factors, rains and soil conditions, but I now realize that it was due to lack of the right pollen. In the spring of 1941, I decided to make special pollen combinations with all the hickories then in bloom. The information I acquired in return was great reward for the work I did.

I selected branches of the Weschcke hickory trees bearing a profuse amount of pistillate (female) blossoms. I hand-pollinated these with a special apparatus (the hand-pollen gun described later in this book), using a magnifying gla.s.s so that both pollen and blossom could be plainly seen. In doing this, I found it most practical to wear what jewelers call a "double loupe," a light, fiber head-gear carrying lenses well-suited to such work. I treated the marked branches with pollen gathered from the Bridgewater, the Kirtland and the Beaver, all very good pollen-bearers. I also pollinated branches of the Cedar Rapids variety, which bears little pollen in this locality, with Kirtland pollen. However, the pollinization of the Cedar Rapids, which involved treating from 35 to 50 pistillate blossoms, resulted in only two mature nuts.

The Weschcke hickory has an abortive staminate bloom so that it must depend on some other variety for pollen. At the Northern Nut Growers'

Convention, held at Hershey, Pa. in 1941, (where I had the honor of being elected president of that venerable organization and succeeded myself thereafter for the next five years) I mentioned this abortive staminate bloom of my hickory to my friend, Dr. J. W. McKay, a.s.sociate Cytologist of the U. S. Department of Agriculture at that time. He was very interested in this phenomenon and wanted specimens of the abortive catkins for examination. These were sent to him in the spring of 1942. I quote from Dr. McKay's report on his primary findings:

"I have just made a preliminary examination of the catkins from your hickory tree received last May, and it seems that the individual staminate flower of the catkin produces 4-5 undersized stamens, the anthers of which are devoid of either pollen or pollen-mother-cells. So far I have made only temporary preparations of the crushed anthers in stain but careful study of these mounts discloses no sign of pollen grains or mother cells, so we may tentatively conclude that no pollen is produced by the tree; in other words it is male-sterile. The stage at which degeneration of the pollen-forming tissue occurs in the anthers and its nature will have to be determined by means of a longer and more elaborate technique and I will let you know what we find as soon as the results are available. It may be that pollen-mother-cells are not even formed in the anthers; the small size of these structures and their more or less shriveled appearance lead me to believe that this may be the case.

"So far as I know there is no instance among nut species comparable to that outlined above. We have two or three cases of male sterility in chestnut but in these no stamens are formed in the individual staminate flower. In one of the hybrid walnuts that I reported on at the Hershey convention, imperfect pollen grains are formed in the anthers but the latter structures never open, so no pollen is shed.

"Bear in mind that the above report is preliminary and other angles may turn up when permanent mounts are available for study."

On December 14, 1943 I received a second, and final report from Dr.

McKay from which I quote, as follows:

"Dear Mr. Weschcke:

The enclosed pencil sketches will give you an idea of the results obtained from sectioning four lots of material from the two samples of catkins that you sent, two lots from each sample. Since the sample collected May 25 at the time of catkin fall was old enough to contain mature pollen and showed only anthers of the two types described herewith I think we may safely conclude that the tree is male sterile because of the failure of the mother cells to function. It is odd that in some anthers the pollen-mother-cells develop (type 2) while in others they do not (type 1). For this we have no explanation; nor can we explain why the tree is male sterile. I am afraid these phenomena will remain a matter of conjecture for some time to come. Since sterilities of this and other sorts in most other plants are largely genetic, that is, controlled by one or more genes that are inherited in Mendelian fashion, it is likely that such is the case here. You and I will not live long enough, however, to grow the necessary number of generations of trees to clear up these matters.

"In the course of routine preparation of other material I plan to run up other lots from your samples, and I will let you know if anything different turns up. I believe we may safely conclude, however, that the results reported herewith are representative."

In further explanation, Dr. McKay submitted the drawings shown on page 57, and says:

"Four lots of material were sectioned, two from the collection of May 6 and two from that of May 25. Of these, two gave anthers of type one, and two of type two. More material will have to be sectioned before we know which type is predominant.

"The anthers of type one are greatly shriveled, and a band of deeply-staining collapsed cells apparently represents the remains of archesporial or pollen-forming tissue.

"The anthers of type two are normal in appearance, but the pollen-mother-cells degenerate before pollen grains are formed. A comparison of the degenerate pollen-mother-cells of this plant with normal pollen-mother-cells is given below:"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sections of anthers of the Weschcke Hickory Carya ovata

_Ill.u.s.trations by Dr. McKay showing pollen degeneration in Weschcke hickory._]

This substantiates the conclusion that I had arrived at previous to this report, that this hickory is able to mature its nuts early in the fall by reason of not having to waste its energy in the production of pollen.

(There is only one other variety of hickory which I have grafted on bitternut which has proved unable to mature pollen and it is the Creager from Iowa.) I was immensely pleased to find that it responded very well to Bridgewater pollen, a high percentage of the blooms treated with it developing mature nuts. The results with the Kirtland pollen were almost equally good, the poorest showing coming from those branches treated with Beaver pollen on which only three mature nuts developed. (The Beaver is presumed to be a hybrid between bitternut and s.h.a.gbark hickories.) Sixty-two nuts from these pollinizations were planted in the fall of 1941 in rodent-proof seed beds. In the spring, counting germination, I found 100% of these nuts had sprouted and grown into small trees during the season.

After finding the most suitable pollen for the Weschcke hickory, I realized the necessity for including more than one variety of hickory in a planting, just as there should be more than one variety of apple or plum tree in an orchard. I think that it would always be well to have three or more varieties of known compatibility within reasonable distances, probably not more than 100 feet apart, nor less than 40 to 50 feet for large hickories.

Of the many varieties of hickory and hickory hybrids I have tested, about twenty have, by now, proved to be sufficiently hardy to recommend for this lat.i.tude. These include: