erable acreage as a
commercial venture in the north. The experience of the past year
certainly emphasizes the fact that as yet our knowledge of varieties is
incomplete and also that the Northern Nut Growers Association has much
work to do in either locating or developing varieties of greater
hardiness or with growth characteristics which provide early maturity
and thus immunity from early frost damage.

What Came Through the Hard Winter in Ontario

GEORGE HEBDEN CORSAN, Islington, Ontario

For winter killing of trees I refer you to the winter of 1947-48. I had
a huge elm and a very tall white ash killed. A lot of black walnuts and
heartnuts and some Persian (English) walnuts were killed back the length
of last year's growth. Some Persian walnuts were killed to the ground
while others were not even nipped off of a bud. Very strange to say, my
best Persian walnut---whose shell is very thin, whose meats are very
sweet and fat, the tree itself a fast grower, prolific and
self-pollenizing--not only did not show a sign of trouble but actually
had a crop of most excellent nuts. _These trees only_ will I distribute
in future, as well as my two types of "Rumanian Giants." The Rumanian
Giants did show a little winter killing of two or three inches of the
tips and showed up poorly on the crop size.

I find that all my Russian walnuts [_J. regia_, probably
"Carpathian"--Ed.] run true to seed--no bitter nuts as from north China.
They evidently planted the sweet nuts only, thus eliminating the bitter
types; they knew and practiced no budding or grafting in [that part of]
Russia. Astounding to say, filberts came through last winter in
excellent shape, but the terrible, cold, late spring, froze all male
blossoms but those of the "Jones Hybrid" types, which I have from seeds
I sowed. These latter yielded a good crop of nuts as did Brixnut
seedlings.

Not a butternut on a tree nor a beechnut! Some black walnuts were loaded
while others were quite empty.

And so I predicted--last September--a mild, open winter with some cold
days. [His prediction was good for his locality.--Ed.]

My "Senator Pepper" hybrid (butternut x heartnut cross) had a crop but
my "David Fairchild" had some empty and some full. My "Mitchell hybrid"
had a good crop and, believe me, this nut is far away ahead of the
Mitchell heartnut and up against the world for cracking out clean. It
will equal an almond, and as for taste, it is so far ahead of a Brazi