I also liked to pick hazelnuts when I was a boy.  These are probably the least interesting among the wild nuts since they are usually small and hard to crack.  There is much variation in wild hazels, however, and many people may recall them as being reasonably large.  One of the two species abundant in Minnesota, Corylus cornuta or Beak hazel, has fine, needle-like hairs on its husk which are sure to stick into one’s fingers disagreeably.  When the husk is removed, Corylus cornuta resembles a small acorn.  It does not produce in southern Minnesota and central Wisconsin as well as the common hazel, Corylus Americana, does, nor is its flavor as pleasing to most people.  It is lighter in color than the common hazel and has a thinner shell.  Of course, some hazels are intermediate or natural hybrids between these two species, and if the nuts of such hybrids are planted, they generally revert to one of the parents when mature enough to bear.  This natural hybridization occurs among all plants, between those of the same species, the same genera or the same family.  It is very rare between plants of different families.  The process is a very important one in horticulture and I shall explain some of the crosses which are well-known later in this book.

Chapter 2

FIRST ATTEMPTS

When I was about fifteen years old, my family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where my home now is and where my experimental work with nuts was begun.  St. Paul is in the 45th north parallel, but although it is farther north, it is as favorable for the growth of nut trees as New Ulm or St. Peter, because it lies in the Mississippi River valley and is farther east.  Bodies of water and altitudes have as great an influence on plant life as latitude; at least, they can have, and these are factors that must be understood thoroughly.  Soil conditions also vitally affect plant life, particularly deep-rooted trees such as nut trees usually are.  Each has its own requirements; hickory, Japanese heartnut and Persian walnuts favor an alkaline soil, which chestnuts, wanting acid will not grow in; chestnuts thrive best in a slightly acid, well-drained soil; hazels will grow in either alkaline or acid soil as will black walnuts and butternuts; almonds need a light sandy soil, similar to that suitable to plums, pecans do well in either rich river bottoms, which may be slightly acid, or in clay soil on high hillsides which are alkaline.  A deep, sandy or graveltype soil is usually accepted by the chestnuts even though it may not be slightly acid, and successful orchards have been grown on a deep clay soil on hillsides.

It is not always easy to obtain black walnuts and butternuts to eat.  Hickory nuts have been a favorite of mine since I first tasted them and I often have found it difficult to procure fresh ones, ones that were not slightly rancid.  Because I liked eating these nuts, I thought I would try to grow some for my own consumption and so avoid having to depend on a grocer’s occasional supply of those shipped in, always a little stale.  Raising nuts appealed to me economically too, since obviously trees would need little care, and after they had begun to bear would supply nuts that could be sold at interesting prices.