of success. In a few years, I was using my own trees to fill up spaces left vacant by the mortality of the Pennsylvania-grown trees. I did not neglect seeding to provide stocks of the Eastern black walnut also, which is almost a different species from the local black walnut, but these seedling trees proved to be tender toward our winters and only a few survived. After they had grown into large trees, these few were grafted to English walnuts. The difference between the Eastern black walnut and the local native black walnut is quite apparent when the two trees are examined side by side. Even the type of fruit is different, although I do not know of any botanical authority who will confirm my theory that they are different species. They are probably to be considered as geographically distinct rather than as botanically different species.

For several years I continued to graft black walnuts on butternut trees with the intention of converting hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these wild trees over to prolific, cultured black walnuts. I did not realize my mistake in doing this until ten years had elapsed. I believed that since the tops were growing, the trees would shortly produce nuts. Today they are still growing, bigger and better, yet most of these grafted trees bear no nuts, having only a crop of leaves. A few nuts result from these grafts, however, and some of the trees bear a handful of nuts from tops of such size that one would expect the crops to be measured in bushels. The kind which bore the best was the Ohio variety. In another chapter, I shall relate parallel experience in hickory grafting which I carried on simultaneously with grafting of black walnut on butternut.

My first big disappointment in my black walnut orchard was when, in about 1930, having a fairly good crop of nuts, I unsuccessfully attempted to sell them to local stores. They were not interested in anything except walnut kernels and to them, a wild walnut kernel was the same as a cultivated one as long as it was highly-flavored. This so cooled my enthusiasm and hopes for a black walnut orchard that I ceased experimenting with them except to try out new varieties being discovered through nut contests carried on by the Northern Nut Growers' Association. The 1926 contest produced a number of black walnut possibilities, among them being such named varieties as the Rohwer, Paterson, Throp, Vandersloot, Pearl and Adams.

The neglected and over-grown walnut seedlings now began to serve a useful purpose in grafting the new varieties which I obtained for testing in this locality. These were propagated by obtaining scionwood from the originators of the variety and grafting it on these seedling trees. My technical knowledge had increased by this time to such an extent that I was usually certain of one-half of the grafts growing. The behavior of the Rohwer and Paterson in 1937 invited nursery propagation on a greater scale than did other better-known types, because of their qualities of hardiness and earlier-ripening.

In the spring of 1937, these native seedlings were again offered to the spirit of propagation, when a large part of the scionwood of English walnuts I had imported from the Carpathian mountains of Poland was grafted on them. The success of my grafting in this instance was only about 1-1/2%, showing that something was decidedly wrong. Two conclusions were possible: Either the scionwood had been injured by transportation and the severe winter temperatures during January and February of 1937 during which they were stored, or incompatibility existed between the imported walnuts and our local ones. My conclusion now is that when these stocks are fifteen years old or more and are thrifty, they will support grafting of the Carpathian English walnuts much more successfully than they will in their first decade of growth. Results have shown that these local stocks will accept such grafts, however, and that crops of English walnuts will be produced. The fertility of the soil must be maintained carefully, since the English walnut top tends to overgrow its black walnut root-stock, and unless nutritional substance for the support of these tops is fed to the root-system, meager crops, if any, will result.

I might note in comparison to the 1-1/2% success I had in this grafting, that during the same season I put several hundred scions of these same English walnuts on the Eastern black walnut stocks without a single successful graft occurring.

In 1933 and 1934, many of these experimentally grafted walnuts, such as Vandersloot, Paterson, and Rohwer as well as others, were planted in orchard formation. In digging these trees, we took care to get all of the root possible and to take a ball of dirt with the root. In spite of these precautions, some of the trees died, not having sufficient vitality and root development to withstand transplantation. This was a result not only of the crowded condition under which the stocks had grown but also of the poor soil which had nourished them. The soil was heavy blue clay underlaid with limestone within two feet of the top of the ground. Enough trees were set out in orchard formation which are growing well and bearing annual crops, to give us the proof we need in drawing conclusions of superiority among these varieties.

Black walnuts will keep for several years if they are properly dried and then stored in a cool, but not too damp, place. Storing nuts in attics which are likely to become excessively hot in the summer time, causes rancidity sooner than any other method. Nuts keep very well in attics during the winter but they should be transferred to a basement during hot weather. If the basement is very damp, though, nuts will mould there. For general storage, without having to move them from one place to another for different seasons, nuts can be kept most practically in a barn or outside shed. The only precaution necessary under such circumstances is that they should be in a box or steel barrel to prevent squirrels and mice from feeding on them, since barns and sheds are easily accessible to these animals.

The kernels of black walnuts need not be discolored if the hulls of the fresh nuts are removed as soon as the nuts are ripe. At my farm, we have done this with an ordinary corn-sheller. The nuts, having been hulled this way, are then soaked in water for a few hours to remove any excess coloring matter left on their shells, after which they are dried for several days out-of-doors, although not exposed to the sun since this might cause them to crack open. Thorough drying is necessary before sacking to prevent moulding. Kernels extracted from nuts treated this way are very light in color like English walnuts. This enhances their market value and they command a higher price when they are to be used for culinary purposes such as cake frosting and candies where there is exposure of large pieces or halves of the nut kernel. I find black walnuts are exceptionally delicious when used in a candy called divinity fudge. The strong flavor of the black walnut kernel although appreciated by many people, is not as popular as that of the butternut, of which more is said in another chapter.

The food value of black walnut kernels is high since they are composed of concentrated fat and protein, similar to the English walnut, the hickory nut and the pecan. There is also the advantage, which John Harvey Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan, has pointed out, that nuts are a food of high purity being entirely free from disease bacteria. One could safely say of unshelled nuts that there is not a disease germ in a carload.

There was a time when black walnut hulls were purchased by producers of insecticides. The black walnut hull, when dried and pulverized, produces a substance which gives body to the concentrated pyrethrum extract which is the essential ingredient of many insecticides.

One cannot leave a discussion of