Prof. Smith: My experience has been different from yours. I have some chestnut and walnut trees, on an unploughable hillside in the corner of my father's farm in Virginia which I stuck there ten or a dozen years ago and have done very little to them. Of course they are native. They have thriven. Nature does it exactly that way.
The Secretary: It seems to me there is no question that they will do better under cultivation. Of course they may do fairly well in odd places if they can dominate the other growth.
Prof. Smith: A man could take a pocketful of the various kinds of nuts and go around his fence corners and plant a few. In an hour he can plant fifty, and if he gets one to grow it is good return for that hour's work.
The Secretary: I have advised people to take a handful of nuts and a cane when they go out walking and occasionally stick one in.
The Chairman: In our locality, people would ask, "Why is that string of squirrels following that man?"
Mr. Corsan: I have been planting nuts in that way for years.
The Chairman: If a man planted trees which belonged in his neighborhood, nuts that were already in the dominant ruling group, then his chances for success would be very good, but if he introduced in fence corners trees that had to adjust themselves to a new environment, he would find very few growing and the squirrels, other trees and various obstacles to development in the midst of established species, would wipe out most of them. Nevertheless, as it isn't much trouble, I would advise anybody to take a pocketful of hickory nuts out with him when he goes for a walk and plant one every little way.
A Member: The idea is good; let us follow it up.
Mr. Rush: I don't think it is feasible at all to plant trees around fence corners.
The Chairman: In our locality it would not do at all.
A Member: It won't do in any locality. The sods and grass around the tree will dwarf it and cause a very slow growth. Our time is valuable and we can't wait on that kind of a tree to bring results. Cultivation is the main need. Sometimes trees will do well where the soil is rich and competition absent. In Burlington, N. J. we found a walnut tree bearing enormous crops in a back yard. I have seen the same thing in this county, and also in Carlisle, and the Nebo tree, famous for its wonderful productiveness, has a similar environment. But it is high cultivation that usually is necessary for the best results in all trees, and walnut trees particularly.