In Michigan, hickory and black walnut trees have been used along the highways as avenue trees for a considerable period. In Pennsylvania occasionally the Persian walnut is used as an avenue tree. One of the beauty spots along the roadway of Lancaster County is this stretch of roadway under the spreading branches of Persian walnut trees. Senator McNary of Oregon thought so well of the beauty of the filbert that he induced his brother to plant several trees on his lawn in the city of Salem. It is no exageration to say that there are no prettier trees in the city then are these before you.
To a considerable extent, nut raising is being combined with the poultry industry in the Northwest. The poultry raisers claim that some kind of trees are essential to furnish shade in the poultry yards. They say that fruit trees are not desirable for the reason that at harvest time the chickens not only pick and ruin the fruit but themselves get internal disorders. Nut trees, they argue, fit in very well, as the chickens cannot hurt the nuts nor the nuts the chickens. Furthermore, the trees in chicken parks salvage a great deal from the chicken manure which would otherwise be lost. The use of nut trees in this way is a practice which it would seem could well be introduced to good advantage in the eastern states.
Among the ornamentals, it is difficult to imagine a species which could more effectively be used than the pecan. The picture before you was taken of a comparatively young tree perhaps 30 or 40 years old on the home grounds of a private citizen near Easton, Maryland at practically our own latitude. It is a most beautiful tree.
Rightly used, the black walnut is also one of our most effective species in the landscape. The picture before you is of a tree 51 years old. It stands in front of the home residence of a sister to United States Senator Charles L. McNary of Salem, Oregon. When photographed, this tree measured 10 feet, 6 inches in girth at breast height. It would be hard to imagine a more noble and graceful nut.
Along the roadways of California, we not uncommonly find the native black walnut used as an avenue tree. It is very refreshing and cooling on a hot day to drive under trees of the sort illustrated in the picture before you. This avenue of trees is along the Lincoln Highway less than a mile west of the University grounds at Davis.