Chapter 1

Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images produced by Core Historical Literature in Agriculture (CHLA), Cornell University)

WALNUT GROWING IN OREGON

Edited by J. C. Cooper

PUBLISHED BY THE

Passenger Department Oregon Railroad and Navigation Co. Southern Pacific Company Lines in Oregon Portland, Oregon

COPYRIGHT, 1910. BY WM. McMURRAY. GENERAL PASSENGER AGENT

WALNUT GROWING IN OREGON

A COMING INDUSTRY OF GREAT NATIONAL IMPORTANCE

English walnuts for dessert, walnut confectionery, walnut cake, walnuts in candy bags at Christmas time--thus far has the average person been introduced to this, one of the greatest foods of the earth. But if the food specialists are heard, if the increasing consumption of nuts as recorded by the Government Bureau of Imports is consulted--in short, if one opens his eyes to the tremendous place the walnut is beginning to take among food products the world over, he will realize that the walnut's rank as a table luxury is giving way to that of a necessity; he will acknowledge that the time is rapidly approaching when nuts will be regarded as we now regard beefsteak or wheat products. The demand is already so great that purveyors are beginning to ask, where are the walnuts of the future to come from?

In 1902. according to the Department of Commerce and Labor, we imported from Europe 11,927,432 pounds of English walnuts; each year since then these figures have increased, until in 1906 they reached 24,917,023 pounds, valued at $2,193,653. In 1907 we imported 32,590,000 pounds of walnuts and 12,000,000 more were produced in the United States. In Oregon alone there are consumed $400,000 worth of nuts annually.

When we consider the limited area suitable to walnut culture in America--California and Oregon practically being the only territory of commercial importance--and the fact that the Old World is no longer planting additional groves to any appreciable extent, there being no more lands available, we begin to realize the important place Oregon is destined to take in the future of the walnut industry: for in Oregon, throughout a strip of the richest land known to man--the great Willamette basin with its tributary valleys and hills, an area of 60 by 150 miles--walnuts thrive and yield abundantly, and at a younger age than in any other locality, not excepting their original home, Persia. In addition, Oregon walnuts are larger, finer flavored, and more uniform in size than those grown elsewhere; they are also free from oiliness and have a full meat that fills the shell well. These advantages are recognized in the most indisputable manner, dealers paying from two to three cents a pound more for Oregon walnuts than for those from other groves. Thus the very last and highest test--what will they bring in the market?--has placed the Oregon walnut at the top.

However, in all of Oregon, throughout the vast domain that seems to have been providentially created to furnish the world with its choicest nut fruit, there are, perhaps, not more than 200 acres in bearing at the present time. The test has been accomplished by individual trees found here and there all the way from Washington and Multnomah counties on the north, to Josephine and Jackson counties, bordering California. In a number of counties but two or three handsome old monarchs that have yielded heavy crops year after year, without a failure for the past twenty to forty years, bear witness to the soil's suitability; in other counties, notably Yamhill, sturdy yielding groves attest the soil's fitness. In none of the counties of the walnut belt has but the smallest fraction of available walnut lands been appropriated for this great industry. People are just beginning to realize Oregon's value as a walnut center and her destiny as the source of supply for the choicest markets of the future.

Were it practical to plant every unoccupied suitable acre in Oregon this year to walnuts, in eight or ten years the crop would establish Oregon forever as the sovereign walnut center of the world; and the crop, doubling each year thereafter for five years, as is its nature, and then maintaining a steady increase up to the twentieth year, would become a power in the world's markets, equal if not superior to that of North American wheat at the present time.

The United States Year Book for 1908 estimates the food value of the walnut at nearly double that of wheat, and three times that of beefsteak.

Colonel Henry Dosch, the Oregon pioneer of walnut growing, says: "As a business proposition I know of no better in agricultural or horticultural pursuits."

Prof. C. I. Lewis, of the Oregon Experiment Station, writes: "In establishing walnut groves we are laying the foundation for prosperity for a great many generations."

Mr. H. M. Williamson, secretary of the Oregon Board of Horticulture, writes: "The man who plants a walnut grove in the right place and gives it proper care is making provision not only for his own future welfare, but for that of his children and his children's children."

Felix Gillett, the veteran horticulturist of Nevada City, California, wrote shortly before his death: "Oregon is singularly adapted to raising walnuts."

Thomas Prince, owner of the largest bearing walnut grove in Oregon, expresses the most enthusiastic satisfaction with the income from his investment, and is planting additional groves on his 800-acre farm in Yamhill county, in many cases uprooting fruit trees to do so.

HISTORY IN BRIEF

The so-called "English" walnut originated in Persia, where it throve for many centuries before it was carried to Europe--to England, Germany, France, Spain and Italy--different varieties adapting themselves to each country. The name "walnut" is of German origin, meaning "foreign nut." The Greeks called it "the Royal nut," and the Romans, "Jupiter's Acorn," and "Jove's Nut," the gods having been supposed to subsist on it.

The great age and size to which the walnut tree will attain has been demonstrated in these European countries: one tree in Norfolk, England, 100 years old, 90 feet high, and with a spread of 120 feet, yields 54,000 nuts a season; another tree, 300 years old, 55 feet high, and having a spread of 125 feet, yields 1,500 pounds each season. In Crimea there is a notable walnut tree 1,000 years old that yields in the neighborhood of 100,000 nuts annually. It is the property of five Tartar families, who subsist largely on its fruit.

In European countries walnuts come into bearing from the sixteenth to the twenty-fourth year; in Oregon, from the eighth to the tenth year; grafted trees, sixth year.

The first walnut trees were introduced into America a century ago by Spanish friars, who planted them in Southern California. It was not until comparatively recent years that the hardier varieties from France, adapted to commercial use, were planted in California and later in Oregon. They were also tried in other localities, but without success.

Since the prolific productiveness of the English walnut on the Pacific Coast has been assured, many commercial groves have been set out.

TEST TREES OF OREGON

The first walnut trees were planted in Oregon in limited number for purely home use, "just to see if they would grow," and they did. Thus the state can boast of single trees close to sixty years of age, each with admirable records of unfailing crops, demonstrating what a fortune would now be in the grasp of their owners had they planted commercially.

In Portland, Oregon, on what is known as the old Dekum place, 13th and Morrison streets, there are two walnut trees, planted in 1869, that have yielded a heavy crop every fall since their eighth year, not a single failure having been experienced. The ground has never been cultivated. The nuts planted were taken at random from a barrel in a grocery store. During the "silver thaw" of 1907, the most severe cold spell in the history of Oregon, one of the trees was wrenched in two, but the dismembered limb, hanging by a shred, bore a full crop of walnuts the following season.

N. A. King, at 175 Twenty-first street, has some fine, old trees that have not missed bearing a good crop since their eighth year.

Henry Hewitt, living at Mt. Zion, Portland, an elevation of 1,000 feet, has many handsome trees, one, a grafted tree fifteen years old, that has borne since its fifth year. Another tree of his buds out the fourth of July and yields a full crop as early as any of the other varieties.

In Salem, there is what is known as the famous old Shannon tree, fully thirty years old, with a record of a heavy crop every season.

Mayor Britt, of Jacksonville, has a magnificent tree that has not failed in twenty years.

Dr. Finck, of Dallas, has a large tree seventeen years old that bore 70 pounds of nuts in its thirteenth year, and has increased ever since.

C. H. Samson, of Grants Pass, has a grove of 250 trees, now ten years old, that bore at seven years.

Mr. Tiffany, of Salem, has a fifteen-year-old tree that at thirteen years bore 115 pounds.

Mr. E. Terpening, of Eugene, has four acres of walnuts grafted on the American black, which in 1905 produced 700 pounds, in 1906 produced 1200 pounds, in 1907 produced 2000 pounds, and in 1908 produced 3000 pounds. He tried seedlings first, but they were not satisfactory. The Epps and Reece orchard near Eugene produces about 100 pounds per tree, at 12 years of age.

Mr. Muecke, of Aurora, planted a dozen walnuts from his father's estate in Germany; they made a splendid growth, and at six years bore from 500 to 800 nuts to a tree.

Mr. Stober, of Carson Heights, planted nuts from Germany with satisfactory results.

Mrs. Herman Ankeny, of New Era, has seven young trees that in 1907 netted her $15 a tree.

Cozine tree on A street, McMinnville. Seedling, 15 years old; bears good crop of nuts every year. At 14 years old the crop was 125 pounds. Is 16 inches in diameter and has a spread of 42 feet.

One sixteen-year-old tree near Albany netted its owner $30.

A Franquette walnut near Brownsville yielded eight bushels at ten years.

The French varieties planted in and around Vancouver commenced bearing at seven years, and have never failed. Prominent growers are A. A. Quarnberg, A. High, Mr. H. J. Biddle, C. G. Shaw.

In Yamhill county, Ed. Greer, James Morison, F. W. Myers, D. H. Turner and Bland Herring all won prizes at the first walnut fair held in the state, on nuts from their groves.

WOOD OF THE ENGLISH WALNUT

The wood of the English walnut is very hard and close grained, and nearly as hard and tough as hickory. It will no doubt be valuable for furniture, finishing lumber and any other use that may require a first-class hard wood.

YOUNG GROVES OF OREGON

The Prince walnut grove of Dundee, Yamhill county, thrills the soul of the onlooker with its beauty, present fruitfulness, and great promise. Lying on a magnificent hillside, the long rows of evenly set trees--healthy, luxurious in foliage, and filled with nuts--present a picture of ideal horticulture worth going many miles to see. There is not a weed to mar the perfect appearance of the well-tilled soil; not a dead limb, a broken branch, a sign of neglect or decay. In all, 200 acres are now planted to young walnuts, new areas being added each season. From the oldest grove, about forty-five acres, the trees from twelve to fourteen years old, there was marketed in 1905 between two and three tons of walnuts; in 1906 between four and five tons; in 1907 ten tons were harvested, bringing the highest market price, 18 and 20 cents a pound wholesale, two cents more than California nuts. The crop for 1908 was at least one-third heavier than for 1907. One tree on the Prince place, a Mayette, that has received extra cultivation, by way of experiment, now twelve years old, has a spread of thirty-eight feet, and yielded in its eleventh year 125 pounds of excellent nuts. Mr. Woods, the superintendent of the Prince place, considers walnut growing a comparatively simple matter; he advocates planting the nut where the tree is to grow, choosing nuts with care; and then thorough cultivation. The soil is semi-clayey, red, hill land.

Near Albany, Linn county, 700 acres are planted; the soil is a rich loam, and seems admirably adapted to walnuts.

Near Junction City, in Lane county, there are 200 acres of young trees. Every condition seems present for the best results.

Eugene has two small groves.

Yamhill county, where the greatest demonstration thus far has been made, has close to 3,000 acres in young trees, the planting having been both on hill and valley lands.

At Grants Pass, Josephine county, there is a promising grove of 600 young trees.

Near Aurora and Hubbard, Marion county, where the soil is a rich, black loam, rather low, a number of young groves are making a growth of four and five feet a season.

J. B. Stump, of Monmouth, Polk county, has a very thrifty young grove.

This is a view of a part of the R. Jacobson orchard one and one-half miles west of McMinnville. The land was bought for $60 per acre and when planted to walnuts sold for $200. The orchard is now five years old and could not be bought for $600 per acre. It is located on a hill 150 feet above the level of the valley.

The largest single grafted grove in Oregon is situated one mile from Junction City, the property of A. R. Martin. He has sixty-five acres.

Washington county is rapidly acquiring popularity as a walnut center, many fine orchards being now planted. Mr. Fred Groner, near Hillsboro, is now planting 100 acres to grafted trees. The Oregon Nursery Company is establishing large walnut nurseries in Washington county.

In Douglas county, vicinity of Drain, little attention has been paid to walnut culture, but a sufficient number of trees are doing well to insure good results from large plantings.

In Jackson county, near Medford, a number of young groves have been planted, and individual trees throughout the Rogue River Valley furnish ample evidence of correct soil and climatic conditions in that section. Even when apple trees have been caught by frost the walnuts have escaped uninjured, bearing later a full crop.

In Tillamook county only sufficient trees have been planted to demonstrate favorable soil conditions.

While western Oregon is universally conceded to be the natural walnut center, eastern Oregon also has its localities where walnuts bear heavily, and will prove a good commercial crop. In Baker county there are thousands of acres of land adapted to walnuts; young groves are being planted, and a number of trees have produced fine crops.

When one considers the years of the future when the trees of each of these young groves will lift their symmetrical heads fifty, sixty, ninety feet into the air, laden to full capacity with a plenteous crop, each October dropping their golden-brown nut harvest that falls with the clink of dollars to the commercial-minded, but with an accompaniment of finest sentiment in the hearts of those otherwise inclined, one turns away with a desire to repeat the wisdom of these pioneer planters and start a grove of his own. With what grander monument could one commemorate his little span on earth?

LOCATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL GROVES

Much is heard, in a general way, of necessary climate and soil conditions for walnut culture, some giving preference to the hillsides, others to valley lands; some contending for a deep, rich loam, others for sandy soil. But a careful examination of the soils of Oregon and the trees now bearing thereon produces convincing evidence that almost any deep, rich, well-drained, western Oregon soil--and some in eastern Oregon--not underlaid by hardpan, will insure a good harvest, providing the right varieties are planted. The whole question resolves itself into a matter of intelligent choice of trees to suit varying conditions.

For example, the famous Prince grove is producing magnificent crops on soil decidedly clayey; but the place is thoroughly cultivated and careful selection has been made of hardy trees, the Mayette being preferred.

Another young grove is proving that walnuts do well on clayey hill land of buckshot nature, where the drainage is good and there is no rock or hardpan.

In contrast with the hill land, young groves are making admirable growth on the rich loam about Aurora and McMinnville.

Mr. Henry Hewitt, of Portland, has fine, young seedlings on a hillside, elevation 1,000 feet, that made four feet of growth in one season.

In the neighborhood of all these groves, there are hardy, bearing trees that amply foreshadow the future of the larger plantings. Colonel Henry Dosch, the pioneer walnut grower of Oregon, who has experimented rather thoroughly, even goes so far as to claim that rocky soil is not objectionable, providing there is no hardpan.

In this, as in all other horticultural pursuits, naturally the richer soils are best; but the industrious horticulturist, by cultivation, fertilization, and proper care, can produce a fairly good grove on unfavorable lands. However, so much of Oregon is favorable by nature that growers will hardly undertake to enrich the few less desirable areas for a good many years to come. Land that on the Atlantic slope would be seized readily enough, in Oregon is passed by, as there is still so much untouched that nature has made ideal. Years hence growers accustomed to the less fertile conditions of the far east will undoubtedly turn their attention to even the few poorer areas in Oregon, and make of them glowing garden spots.

It is a simple matter to determine the presence of hardpan; you have but to make a series of tests--four or five to the acre--with a plumber's auger; and this care should be taken in every area where soil conditions have not been fully determined.

PLANTING

Gather the walnuts during the fall or winter, fall is better, and put them in boxes about the size of ordinary apple boxes, putting in first a layer of sand (the sandy loam along the valley streams is excellent) about four inches deep, then a layer of walnuts about the same depth, then cover these over with three or four inches more of sand. Place these boxes out in the weather on the ground where the water will not rise in them. The reason for putting the walnuts in boxes instead of beds, as advised by some planters, is that the boxes may be taken to the field or nursery and the nuts lifted carefully from the sand and placed where they are to grow. It sometimes happens in a wet and backward spring that the walnuts will sprout before the ground is ready for planting, in which case they must be handled with the tenderest care and not exposed to the atmosphere any longer than can be helped.

One grower had a bed of hybrid black walnuts. The season was late and when the ground was ready for planting many had started to grow. He engaged some boys to grabble out the nuts from the sand beds, urging care, but many of the best were broken and injured. Some of them had sent down a taproot nearly or quite three inches in length. These early ones, under proper conditions, are the most vigorous and surest growers, but in the treatment they received many were injured and killed.

Black walnuts are slow to germinate, sometimes laying in the ground two years before sprouting. But if kept properly they will start by June or July.

For the nursery the ground should be plowed deep and thoroughly pulverized. Plant the nuts 6 to 12 inches apart in rows about 3 feet apart. Put a handful of the sand from the boxes around each walnut. Our soil will appreciate the sand or silt from the drifts along the valley streams, as it has proven to be one of the best fertilizers known. If anyone doubts this let him try a quantity of it on his kitchen garden.

On the Ford place, near the North Yamhill bridge, is one of the finest trees in the county, 33 inches diameter, height 75 feet, spread of branches 60 feet. Bears an abundance of nuts every year. It is 34 years old. The seeds are much used to raise grafting stock.

Nearly all of the black walnut seed produced in the Willamette valley will partake more or less of a mixed or hybrid nature, whether from a California black, Japanese black, or American black. The black walnuts are very susceptible to cross pollinization and the English walnut also, for be it known that

With wandering bees and the sweet May breeze, That virile tide goes far and wide.

The nut should be planted two or three inches deep. A good authority says to place the nut on its side as it would lay after falling from the tree. If the nut is sprouted make a hole in the well pulverized soil and put the root carefully down into it.

The best way for planting in the orchard is to bore a hole with a post or well auger 4 or 5 feet deep where the tree is to grow, put in a stick of dynamite and break up the ground thoroughly.

Or, better still, bore down to permanent moisture and fill the lower hole with good soil or other root food, then dynamite 4 or 5 feet of the upper section of the hole. Nothing will produce a vigorous and thrifty tree like a deep and vigorous root system, and no tree responds to cultivation and care as does the walnut, white or black. After bursting up the soil, excavate and put in a half bushel of barn or other mould, well rotted. This will force the tree in the earlier years of its life and can be no hindrance to it later. Cover the manure with a foot or two of soil and plant. Both before and after planting the ground should be ploughed and harrowed until it is as mellow as an ash heap. Plant three or four nuts in a hill 6 to 8 inches apart and at the end of the first season's growth pull out all but the most vigorous one. For transplanting from the nursery the same methods should be followed in the preparation of the hole and the soil as in planting the seed nuts. If one wants to lay the foundation for a fine orchard and a fine fortune as a consequence, these preliminary steps must not be neglected. Because in time you expect this tree to pay you a rental of $8 to $12 a month. If you are building a cottage that would bring in that sum, you would put in much more work and money besides. The wise grower would rather have a man plant six trees for him in one day than sixty. The walnut is usually a very vigorous tree and will fight its way among adverse conditions and surroundings, but its golden showers are much more abundant if it is protected from the scars of battle, especially in its youth. It almost seems to respond to the love and affection given to it by a kind master. Animals respond to kindness, and why not the domestic trees? It will pay you a big salary after a while when your other bank accounts and your health and strength fail.