DR. MacDANIELS: That probably is about as far West as we are going to get, unless we get a lot of members out farther.
Now, suggestions that have been made have been that next year the meeting would be in Illinois--at the University of Illinois--and the year following somewhere in the East, possibly Pennsylvania, although we haven"t been invited to Pennsylvania. I don"t know whether we can get one or not. And the next year west again, possibly Michigan, and beyond that we haven"t thought. But I think there is a real advantage in having time blocked out in advance for at least two years so that people can make their plans as to where they will go. That is, I think often in planning vacations and what not, it goes that far ahead.
MR. JAY SMITH: Mr. Chairman, the last week in August seems to be better than the first week in September, from the point of view of the school openings in early September.
MR. WELLMAN: I think we should wait a little while and see what kind of attendance we get at this meeting this time of the year.
MR. RICK: If we could arrange it, we"d like to appeal to the membership to have a meeting in Lancaster County. I think Mr. Hostetter has quite a number of things that could be shown and perhaps some others in the neighborhood that might make it quite interesting.
DR. MacDANIELS: We can refer that to the committee.
MR. ALLAMAN: Mr. President, I think that is a very fine suggestion. One of our nut growers in Pennsylvania lives in Lancaster County, and he has told me he has 29,000 nut trees, including filberts, and is still planting.
DR. MacDANIELS: That sounds almost like the Government debt, only not quite.
We will let that matter go until the committee reports when Dr. Colby arrives.
Is there any other business which we ought to transact at this time? If not, I think the next item is the president"s address, which has just arrived. Mrs. Bernath just brought it in. It just came in under the wire, I guess.
DR. CRANE: Mr. Stoke has just come in.
DR. MacDANIELS: We will have the report of the nominating committee, Mr.
Stoke.
Report of Nominating Committee
MR. STOKE: We bore in mind when we were making nominations for the presidency that we will probably hold our next meeting in the West, so we have nominated Dr. William Rohrbacher of Iowa for president, and Dr.
MacDaniels, our perennial vice-president be nominated again and hope that we get him across next year as president. He has served a pretty good apprenticeship. Our secretary, J. C. McDaniel, has been nominated for re-election and Sterling Smith as treasurer. The last two ex-presidents will be on the Board of Directors. Those, with the other officers named, const.i.tute our entire Board of Directors.
DR. MacDANIELS: Thank you, Mr. Stoke.
You have heard the report of the nominating committee.
DR. CRANE: Move that they be accepted.
MR. ALLAMAN: Second.
DR. MacDANIELS: Are there remarks? (No response.) If not, we will take a vote.
(Whereupon, a vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)
DR. MacDANIELS: The election comes at the time of the banquet, and nominations may be made from the floor at the time of election.
Dr. Colby, I believe, came in. Do you want to say something about Illinois as a meeting place for next year. Dr. Colby of the University of Illinois.
DR. COLBY: I don"t know whether there was any malice aforethought in that committee nomination! Before I left Urbana a few weeks ago, Dean H.
P. Rusk of our College of Agriculture asked me to invite you people to come to Urbana, Illinois for your meeting next year. So that, Mr.
President, is an official invitation. We hope that you can all come. I see some of our Illinois friends here, and we are all working together to provide an interesting meeting at that time.
Now, as to the date, that will have to be settled a little later.
DR. MacDANIELS: Thanks very much, Dr. Colby. That makes it official.
MR. WEBER: Mr. President, I move we accept the invitation.
MR. JAY SMITH: I second.
DR. MacDANIELS: Moved and seconded we go to Illinois, the time to be arranged by the committee. Any remarks? (No response.)
(Whereupon, a vote was taken on the motion, and it was carried unanimously.)
DR. MacDANIELS: That fixes that, and the time will depend somewhat on the availability of dormitories. If the meeting is held the last week in August, the dormitories would be available, would they not?
Mr. Weber: Get away from the Labor Day problem, too.
DR. MacDANIELS: Any other business? Has anyone else come in in the meantime who has a report?
If not, we will go ahead with the next item, which is the President"s Address, and I will ask Mr. Weber of Cincinnati to read this. I am much pleased to do this because of Mr. Weber"s friendship for the president.
President"s Address
MILDRED JONES LANGDOC, Erie, Illinois
I have been a member of this organization for a good many years, and I have always had a deep interest in its success. Our members are in a position to encourage the planting of good varieties of nut trees which may some day be appreciated even more for food and other uses as our population increases than we as a nation appreciate them today. Tree crops are a means of conserving our soils, both from the point of erosion and moisture holding content. I like the opportunity we have to be far-sighted in encouraging the planting of nut trees which will play a large part in the future well-being of our country.
Our N.N.G.A., as it is today, has been built on the unselfish efforts of a number of far-sighted men who had an ideal and a will to see that ideal accomplished. I think I was fortunate to know a number of the early founders of the organization either through their visits to my home where my father and they would talk their favorite subject of nut varieties known, just found, or the ideal variety they hoped they"d locate--perhaps in the next nut contest. In lighter mood--usually around the dinner table--they would sometimes reminisce about this joke or that which some member played on another. Altogether our early founders and officers were really great men, bringing experiences from various walks of life. Today we have a still wider variety of occupations listed among our membership, and an even greater opportunity to make acquaintances and friends. I hope every member will make full use of his leisure time here at this convention to make new acquaintances and to renew old ones.
Knowing the members as I do, I know you will treasure these acquaintances during your entire lifetime.
The a.s.sociation can serve its members in a number of ways, but I would place special emphasis on our reports carrying from year to year a progressive report on varieties. In other words, I think our survey reports are one important part of our means of learning about the performance of varieties in various sections of the country where they are being tried. I would urge every member to make a definite effort to co-operate with the survey committee in sending the information they require, because these men making the survey are busy men, too, just like the rest of us, and they have to make a real effort to find time to tabulate the information they receive, and they want to receive more, so they are willing to do their part to tabulate the information which will help us as an organization to be more definite about encouraging or discouraging the planting of a certain variety.
There is a question in my mind whether the very best nut so far as cracking quality is concerned will be the best variety for the average home planter. I think we should consider whether the variety will bear good crops consistently, and if it doesn"t bear well--why? Perhaps it is a matter of soil condition which can be corrected, a matter of a variety being planted in a climate where it cannot bear well, and perhaps elevation above sea level is another factor. We may even find with the hickories and walnuts that certain varieties will perform better with certain other varieties as pollinators. When we think of these things there is much to be done in the evaluation of varieties, although there has been a start in the right direction.
It seems to me that nut contests at regular intervals help to stimulate interest in better varieties of nuts and we do gain a certain amount of free advertising through newspapers and magazines. The results of the contest should state, in my opinion, the comparison of the varieties selected as the best of the contest with the ratings of varieties already named and now in propagation. This would mean using the same score card always. Remembering that the very best rated cracking nut is not always the best bearing variety, it would help to accompany this variety report with data as to the location of the tree--soil it is growing in--soil type--good drainage or a damp location--rainfall during the year--days between frost--whether the tree has had good care or not--whether it"s a heavy bearer--and any other information which may have a bearing upon the health and vigor of the tree. If notes can be taken on the blooming and bearing habit of other trees of the same species close by which may influence this particular variety through cross-pollination, then we would have a good record immediately on each variety.
I realize in stating the above that we must rely on the human mind which colors and evaluates everything our senses perceive, so it"s up to us as individuals to try constantly to train ourselves to evaluate a variety as it really is. I feel that much of the success of our organization in the gathering of nut tree varieties has been due to an honest effort towards reporting only facts and we will do well to enlist the aid of our college trained scientific minds to help us individuals in asking ourselves the necessary questions about our nut tree varieties.
According to the phrase "Life begins at 40," we are now just beginning to live as an organization. Let us then examine every means to set our course towards the definite goal of evaluating the worth of all the named varieties of northern grown nut trees, let us report our findings without prejudice, let us continue to make our annual reports so necessary as a clearing house for the year"s progress in nut culture, so valuable, that anyone interested in nut culture can"t afford not belonging to and being an active part of our group. I would especially like to see other active state groups as the Ohio group all bringing together their yearly information in one book form--our Annual Report.
The Ohio group deserves special recognition on the wisdom of their officers to work towards a unified northern nut growers group, each helping the other where they can.
I want to express my appreciation to our Secretary, Mr. McDaniel, for his work this year which can be doubly appreciated by those who know the excellent job he has performed in spite of many adversities. I hope he will continue as Secretary.
Our Treasurer, Mr. Smith, has been right on the job, and we can all be of special help to him by sending or giving to him here and now our dues for the coming year. We would not waste any time by paying our dues promptly, but we would save a tremendous amount of time for him. We can in this way make his a.s.sociation and work for us most pleasant and in that way show him how much we appreciate his help. I express the hope that Mr. Smith will be our Treasurer for a long time.