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.