Increasing degrees of tenderness and, of course, decreasing degrees of
hardiness, were shown by the many other varieties, some of which may
never recover completely from the shock of that blizzard. The seedling
trees suffered only slight damage so that I expect that they are hardy
enough to produce fruit here.
I cannot conclude this chapter without mentioning certain observations
I have made regarding hardiness, which, although they require more
specific study, I wish to describe as a suggestion for further
experimentation by either amateur or professional horticulturists. My
theory is that a determination of the hardiness factor of an English
walnut tree can be made according to the color of its bark. I have seen
that a tree having thin bark which remains bright green late into the
fall is very likely to be of a tender variety. Conversely, among these
Carpathian walnuts, I have found that varieties whose bark becomes tan
or brown early in autumn show much more hardiness than those whose bark
remains green. One variety, Wolhynie, whose bark is chocolate brown, is
very resistant to winter injury. Another, whose green bark is heavily
dotted with lenticels, shows itself hardier than those having none or
only a trace of them.
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