mate is widely varied, being temperate along Puget Sound and
close to the southern tier of the Great Lakes, but subject to great
extremes in the prairie provinces. Lower winter temperatures in these
provinces average from zero to 45 deg. below, while the lowest recorded is
reported to have been 62 deg. below. It is evident that Canadians have
widely variable problems, in spite of which three Canadians, exactly the
number reported from the northern states, tell us that the sale of nuts
is an important item in their annual incomes. It looks as though, in
comparison, northern U. S. growers could do better. With an average
frost-free season of less than five months (from May 7 to Oct. 2),
Canadians do this. The normal dates of latest spring frosts average from
April 20 to May 24, and of earliest fall frosts, from Sept. 10 to Oct.
12. Extremes at either end often shorten the season somewhat.
Soil conditions are generally good, with plenty of loam and sandy-loam,
half lime, half acid; but drought is serious in places, necessitating
irrigation. One wonders whether, if more of us were pushed to it, we
might not find irrigation so profitable that we would never again be
without it. Cultural and soil corrective practices are, in general,
similar to those previously reported. Less trouble is experienced from
rodents--mice, rabbits, squirrels--but more from deer. Wrapping the
trunks of young trees is more generally practiced than with us of more
southern latitudes, and disk cultivation is more generally favored.
In reply to the question, "What was your one greatest source of
success?", the answers include, pollination by hand, the use of good
trees, disking, planting hardy seed, and budding Persians on black
walnut stocks. Failures were due mostly to the inevitable causes, cold,
drought, weak growth. Alkaline soil is mentioned in one report as a
chief difficulty. Bud worms, June beetle, leaf hoppers and walnut
caterpillars are also enemies, but Canada seems free from some of the
other pests that have invaded the United States.
The most profitable species reported by Canadians are filberts, black
walnuts, with "soft-shelled" walnuts mentioned by Mr. Gellatly, of West
Bank, B. C. From Ontario, Mr. A. S. Wagner, of Delhi, writes, "We are
collecting (nuts) now to make tests of various types of black walnuts
this winter. There are one or two plantations of 1000 trees which will
soon be bearing, and the future looks interesting."
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