d cracked 83 pounds of black walnuts from
just the best of them, you might say. Sold them at a price of $1.49 a
pound. So that wasn't bad, was it? I thought that was right good.

Last year we didn't have a nut in there because we had a freeze on the
31st of May of around 26 deg. to 28 deg., depending on where you were and the
location. But then in the fall on the 23rd of September we had another
drop just when everything was in full growth, due to a dry spell and
then a rain. But in the fall on the 23rd of September we had a drop down
to 20, so that was what happened to all the remaining nuts in that
country. They were just frozen like black mummies.

I had what they call the Texas Thinshell black walnut. I have one tree
that is about eight or nine feet high, maybe ten feet high, had 45 nuts
on it, nice big ones, and they just looked like mummies, and it made me
heartsick, of course. I went out there and looked at the things, and
they fell off the tree. I thought, "Well, I might just as well
experiment. I will dig me a little trench here along the garden, I will
put these in and see what happens." To my surprise 20 of them came up
after being frozen. So that might be a question: Will things sprout or
germinate without reaching maturity?[17] I don't know how much maturity
they had. They certainly weren't in full growth when they were frozen.
That's one thing we want to see.

My main aim is just to grow things, for hobby purposes and see just what
will grow. Last year we had such a hectic year from that late spring
freeze and early fall freeze it discouraged me here where I am, in this
frost pocket at an elevation of 1,050 feet. And I said, "Now, on the
hill about 4 miles away and 300 feet higher they have a wonderful place
for peaches." I have a friend who lives up there, and he has so many
peach trees missing in his old orchard. I said, "How about setting out
some nut trees in your peach orchard?" Ho said, "Go to it." I set out a
nut tree wherever there is a peach tree out. So that gave me a chance to
see what they would do. Last spring I started that too late, but I set
out 45 or 50 trees, filberts, Persian walnuts, pecans, chestnuts and
persimmons, and I will just see what they will do.

And today my kind friend who gave a talk on the nut trees from down in
Alabama gave me seed to plant. I expect to put a row of those out and
see what they will do. The land I am planting them on at one time was
just a great mass of