• Review of SONG Meetings, 1984
• NNGA Meeting, Summer 1984
• The Northern Pecan Seed Project
• Orangeville Nut Orchard, A 3 Year Review
• Peanuts: Production, Processing, Products

Review of SONG Meetings, 1984

The 1984 Spring Auction at the Nature Interpretation Centre of Humber College was a roaring success. More than fifty people came out to bid competitively for the many trees, plants, bushes, honey and baked goods which were for sale. All had a great time and most went home with something new and exciting to plant or eat! Also it was impressive to see what a large operation Humber College has and all enjoyed surveying the new Arboretum which is in its developing stages and will have an exciting future... especially with its new additions of several kinds of nut trees.

The Summer Annual Meeting of SONG started out at the Riverbend Farms near Calton, Ontario. This meeting is best described by quoting the account given by our past president, Glen Sandham: "As president of SONG for the last 2 years, I have had many meetings to chair. The summer meeting of 1984 will be remembered as one of my most enjoyable events. The business agenda ran smoothly and in no time at all everyone was ready to begin the tour of Riverbend Farms. It was impressive to see all of the fruit, ornamental and nut trees which are being started on this nursery. Many thanks go to Murray and Ken Alward for their fine hospitality which went far beyond the call of duty. After the tour of Riverbend Farms a group of members visited J.P. Martyn in Sparta where a Persian walnut and Chinese chestnut orchard are growing. This orchard was initiated by Mrs. Martyn's father in the 1950's. The production from these trees is very good and the Martyns sell all of the Persian walnuts and most of their chestnuts each year. Then a few of the SONG members headed out to Liz Helmer's place in Straffordville where the group toured her nutgrove. Liz has been a SONG member for more than 10 years and many of her 40 plus nut tree specimens have been bearing for 3 or 4 years now. Finally, the last stop of the day was at the home of Thomas and Millie Sandham in Tillsonburg. Here a picnic lunch was prepared with the help of Liz Helmer. A tour of the Sandham's revealed the number of nut trees which are growing there. Since the 1984 Olympics started the same day as our summer meeting, I thought we should have honorary medals for Ernie Grimo and Murray Alward. Ernie Grimo gets a gold for destroying the picnic table while sitting on it and Murray Alward gets a gold for collapsing a lawn chair while falling though it. Murray Alward also gets honarable mention for the quote of the day: "If I stay here long enough people might think that this is the way the chair is supposed to be!" As your past president, I have enjoyed myself over the last 2 years and I will help our new president, Heinz Baumgarten in any way I can ..."
Glen D. Sandham.

The Annual Business Meeting was highlighted by the following:
Secretary's Report given by Bob Hambleton
Treasurer's Report given by Marion Grimo
Auditor's Report given by John Schmidt
The proposal that a new executive position be created entitled "Membership Secretary" was rejected.

The newly elected slate of executive officers for 1984-85 is as follows:
President: Heinz Baumgarten
Vice President: J.B. Harvey
Secretary: Bob Hambleton
Treasurer: Marion Grimo
Editor: R.D. Campbell
Auditor: Joyce Branston

The new nominating committee will consist of Glenn Sandham (Chairman) with Nora Creyke and Murray Alward, members.

It was reported that Guelph University has purchased further nut trees to re-establish their nut grove which was devasted by a tornado several years ago.

Roy Metcalfe described the observations at the Orangeville Reservoir nut planting and reported that numerous trees look promising and are doing well. It was observed subsequently that the filberts produced again at this location for the second year in a row. This demonstrates that filberts have a good deal more hardiness than was expected as Orangeville has one of the more testing climates in the southern half of Ontario because of its higher elevation. It was emphasized that in this planting, the trees located on the north facing slopes suffered less winter injury than those on the south facing slopes.

The fall meeting of SONG was hosted by the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority and long-time SONG member, Don Kernohan. The meeting got started at the Watson Porter Pavilion of Fanshawe Park and there were slides shown and presentations on nut growing made by John Gardner and Don Kernohan. Then the tour started of the nut grove established in Fanshawe Park. A most exciting beginning is evident in this planting. Numerous black walnut trees have been started and they are now up to 3-4 metres high. Numerous of these trees have been "converted" with selected scions of Persian walnut so that they are now producing some of the best thin-shelled walnuts. There are several acres devoted to this worthy experiment and the Conservation Authority, John Gardner and Don Kernohan are to be congratulated for their industry and foresight in this instance. Next the tour moved its focus to the apple and nut farm of Don Kernohan. There were quite a number of good sized Persian walnut trees at this location. Many SONG members filled their pockets with the thin-shelled treasures which were in abundant supply ... demonstrating that squirrels come in two varieties ... the two and the four footed models! After the visitors had satisfied some of their curiosity about Persian walnuts, they did notice that Don has an outstanding apple orchard too. Many of the old favourite varieties were present as well as some of the very newest scab-free selections. There were several samples of apples to taste and this was one of the highlights of the day.

NNGA Meeting, Summer 1984

The Northern Nut Growers Association's Annual Meeting was held at Cooks College of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, August 5-8. SONG was "represented" by several families who were in attendance. Several items stood out and were of particular interest. Cecil Farris of Michigan has hybridized European filberts and Turkish tree hazels and has come up with some good producers of excellent flavoured nuts. The Turkish influence is that of a mild flavour with extended keeping quality. The European influence is of course the large nut. Then the Nebraska University members brought along a visiting horticultural scientist from China and she showed pictures of Persian walnut trees bearing nuts when only a metre high ... and even more fantastic, bearing nuts like grapes in bunches of 12 - 15 nuts per cluster! The nuts were on the small size (Hansen size) but still it was impressive. The Horticultural Department of the University of Nebraska will be exchanging nutseed of North American sources for those of Chinese origin this fall. The results of these exchanges should be known in a few years and it will be exciting to see what comes of it all. Also there were several displays of pecan discoveries with all of the attendent optimism of how far noth can the pecan grow and still produce well filled nuts? As usual there was a lot of informal socializing and chatting about future plans in nut growing and all looked forward to the 1985 Annual Meeting which will be held in Springfield, Missouri, August 4-7.

The Northern Pecan Seed Project

The Northern Pecan Seed Project of the Northern Nut Growers Association goes steaming on with renewed vigour owing to the recent discoveries of the fall of 1984. John Gordon, previous president of SONG organized groups of nut growers to peruse the wild pecan groves around New Boston, Illinois. Gary Fernald and Bill Totten searched the river bottom country from Green Island,Iowa to Ursa, Illinois and from Peoria Illinois to Nevada, Missouri in quest of early ripening types of northern pecan. Ron Cadillac of Massachusetts continues to pursue his study of climatic heat units and how they determine the successful growing range of the pecan. Ernie Grimo continues to custom graft superior clones of pecan which have shown exceptional promise for northern latitudes and Doug Campbell continues to experiment with large numbers of pecan seedlings to determine their adaptability to northern conditions. This fall season has revealed at least four new selections of pecan which satisfactorily fill nuts in the Niagara Peninsula Region. Also, since some exceptionally early ripening pecan seeds from hardy types were found in the New Boston, Illinois area this fall, there will be a renewal of the northern pecan seed offer.

The Northern Pecan Seed Project The details are as follows:
8 seeds for $3.00
Mail Requests to : Northern Pecan Seed Project, c/o R.D. Campbell R.R.#1, Niagara-on-the-Lake ON Canada LOS 1JO
As many packets of seeds as are wanted can be purchased at the above price.
Make cheques payable to: NNGA Pecan Seed Project
A set of complete growing instructions will be mailed out with each package.

Orangeville Nut Orchard, A 3 Year Review

On Oct. 27, 1979 members of SONG met on the property of the Credit Valley Conservation Authority at Grangeviile, Ont. to plant seed of several nut trees from many sources. There were several objectives to this venture. For example:

• To establish a demonstration nut grove from seedling trees
• To identify some suitable seed sources for nut trees in colder areas (Orangeviiie is at least one full hardiness zone more extreme than most nut orchards in Ontario)
• To possibly find a number of highly desirable cultivars by selecting the most promising trees
• To possibly act as a seed orchard for further work in cold areas

The accompanying table lists the various seed sources used and how well they each did. SONG members planted the seed in prepared furrows. The seed spacing varied somewhat; however, for calculating the survival percentage I have assumed an average spacing of 6 inches. The row numbers in the table are those shown on the map of the orchard. Care of the orchard consisted of putting out bait to control rcdents the first winter. Each year the grass has been controlled by spraying Roundup along each side of the rows of seedlings and by mowing the area between the rows.

Some observations:

• There is a noticeable site difference in rows 1 to 7 and rows 8 to 16 for Black walnut. Note that survival and growth are better in rows 8 to 16.
• The walnuts, as a group, are doing well.
• Seedlings from all of the seed sources have shown frost damage during at least one of the winters.
• The chestnuts have not done well. Survival is poor and growth is slow. The leaf colour suggests the chestnuts are suffering from poor nutrition (possibly the soil is not quite acid enough).
• The hazeinuts and filberts appear to have been somewhat affected by the herbicide applications that were aimed at controlling the grass.
• Overall, the orchard is looking very well. SONG members tagged the better trees so that the Conservation Authority can begin a thinning and transplanting program.

Nut Type & Source		Row Number	Row Length	1983 Count	% Alive	Height Avg.	Height Max.
Persian Walnut
	Ashworth	3	68	6	5. 16	28	39
	B 2	3	233	87	21. 64	26	46
	Bill Hambleton Jumbo	3	47	3	3. 73	14	14
	Carpathian	4	174	57	19. 16	25	44
	Korn	5	183	66	21. 09	31	49
	Bill Hambleton Mixed	5	132	31	13. 73	26	36
	B 2	5	100	20	11. 7	24	50
	D. Kernohan	7	218	56	15. 02	24	49
	R.B. Young	7	140	33	13. 78	25	40
	Korn	12	167	65	22. 76	32	47
	Hambleton	12	34	18	30. 96	24	30
	Manregian M 2	12	101	47	27. 21	33	45
Filbert
	G.R. Hambleton E 4	9	205	54	15. 4	9	18
	Bob Hambleton	9	35	4	6.68	7	8
	R.D. Campbell Mixed	10	92	9	5.72	20	34
Hybrid Filbert
	Grimo 14E	9	36	13	21. 12	14	19
	Grimo 180N	9	39	15	22. 49	17	24
	Gordon Hazelberts	9	106	30	16. 55	24	48
	Gordon	10	325	89	16. 01	11	33
	Petoka	11	115	19	9.66	18	26
	Myoka	11	89	19	12. 48	12	30
Hybrid Hazelnut
	Chinoka Tree	11	97	38	22.91	17	31
	Faroka Tree	11	122	65	31. 16	25	36
Heartnut
	Papple #2	13	58	8	8. 07	27	45
	Westfield	13	49	10	11.93	27	42
	Calendar	14	111	31	16.33	34	47
	Papple #1	14	104	30	16.87	33	74
	Papple #2	14	50	13	15. 2	53	64
	Rhodes	15	297	38	7.48	38	39
Northern Pecan
	-	12	113	82	42.44	12	18
	Iowa Native	13	28	2	4.18	15	23
Mixed Sources
	Chstnut Shgbrk Hickry	4	77	16	12. 15	20	24
	Jap. Chstnut Shlbrk H	6	195	101	30. 29	17	30
	Chestnut - Douglas	13	64	8	7.31	NA	NA
	Bk.Wal.Bowser/H.Ashwo	16	49	14	16.71	39	49

Peanuts: Production, Processing, Products
Third Edition
by Jasper Guy Woodroof
Publisher: AVI Publishing Company, Inc.

This is a very complete book on the growing of peanuts. There are sixteen chapters and five appendices covering everything from the planting of the nuts to the making of peanut butter. There are more than four hundred pages with many illustrations, tables, and charts. It's an excellent treatment of the subject for anyone who wants to know all about peanuts. The price for the book is $57.50 in U.S. dollars and is available from AVI Publishing Company, P.O. Box 831, Westport, Connecticut, U.S.A. 06881

Provided by SONG. Feel free to copy with a credit.