Growing Nuts in the North A Personal Story of the Author's Experience of 33 Years with Nut Culture in Minnesota and Wisconsin

Excerpt

Introduction

GROWING NUTS IN THE NORTH

Only a few books have been written on the subject of nut trees and their bearing habits, and very little of that material applies to their propagation in cold climates. For these reasons I am relating some of the experiences I have had in the last thirty-two years in raising nut trees in Wisconsin. To me, this has been a hobby with results both practical and ornamental far beyond my original conception. I hope that the information I am giving will be of help and interest to those who, like myself, enjoy having nut-bearing trees in their dooryards, and that it will prevent their undergoing the failures and disappointments I sometimes met with in pioneering along this line. Since my purpose is to give advice and assistance to those whose interest parallels mine by relating my successes and failures and what I learned from each, I have included only those details of technique which are pertinent.

It is a fine thing to have a hobby that takes one out-of-doors. That in itself suggests healthful thought and living. The further association of working with trees, as with any living things, brings one into the closest association with nature and God. I hope this book may help someone achieve that attitude of life, in which I have found such great pleasure and inner satisfaction.

Anyone wishing to make a planting of a few nut trees in his dooryard or a small orchard planting should join the Northern Nut Growers' Association. This Association can be joined by writing the current secretary, but since that office may be changed from time to time, persons applying for membership should write George L. Slate of Geneva Experiment Station, Geneva, New York, or Dr. H. L. Crane, Principal Horticulturist, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Beltsville, Maryland, or the Author. The first president was Dr. Robert T. Morris, New York City, N. Y., 1910-1911, the Association being founded by Dr. W. C. Deming of Westchester, New York, who called the first meeting in 1910.

Each year a report was printed of the proceedings of the Annual Meeting and exclusive of the 1952 meeting, the Reports which are in substantial book form number forty-two. Most of these Reports can be obtained by writing to the secretary, the total library of these Reports constituting one of the best authorities for nut tree planting in the northern hemisphere of the United States than any extant.

The author acknowledges with thanks the consistent encouraging praise from his father, Charles Weschcke, of the work involved in nut growing experiments, also for his financial assistance, thus making the publication of this book possible and available to readers at a nominal price.

The editor of the greater part of this book, Allison Burbank Hartman (a descendent of the great Luther Burbank), is entitled to great praise and thanks for the interest and work she put forth.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to William Kuehn, the artist. He had been associated with the author in Boy Scout work, also became a part of the nut growing experiments in Northern Wisconsin, which work was interrupted by World War II....