
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993                   TAG: 9308160313
SECTION: HOMES                    PAGE: E-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: John Arbogast
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MORE MAIL ON METHODS USED TO STORE AND CRACK WALNUTS

Since readers' responses with methods they have used to crack walnuts appeared in Dear John on July 18 and 25, more mail has been received on the subject. So, here's more walnut mail:

FROM H.C.M. IN COVINGTON: "Years ago my brother and I devised an effective yet simple method for removing husks from black walnuts. At my grandmother's farm we collected the walnuts and let them dry on old window screens until the husks (hulls) became brittle. We bored a hole in a 2-by-6-inch board; the size of that hole was just slightly larger than a walnut (without hull). With a hammer we drove the walnuts (with hulls) through the hole in the board, one at a time, and they came through totally free of that husk.

The suggestion of using a metal vise for cracking walnuts was a good one. We used a woodworking-shop vise with massive flat jaws which worked well. The vise had a quick release so it speeded up the operation considerably. We got nice-sized pieces with very little damage."

FROM C.T.B. IN MARTINSVILLE: "In your tips for cracking and storing walnuts, I was surprised to see that you (or your source of information) recommended storing the walnuts in a plastic bag. If you do so, I believe you will find that the walnuts mold and rot. There is still moisture in the nuts after they have the hulls removed and they should be stored loosely in slatted wooden boxes or in cardboard boxes with holes cut in them to allow movement of air."

\ RESPONSE: Good point. However, the information from Virginia Tech that had been adapted from the Ohio State Home Horticulture Center must be read exactly as written. The key words in that sentence were that unshelled walnuts could be stored in a plastic bag in a cool, dry place. I checked with Charlotte Kidd, extension agent for home economics in the Roanoke City Extension Office, and she emphasized that if the storage spot is cool and dry, then a plastic bag would be OK.

Q: Referring to second question and answer from Aug. 1, pertaining to snowball and hydrangea: I am almost 80 years old. Both snowballs and hydrangea grew at my childhood home. The shrubs were older than I. Hydrangea and snowballs are not the same thing.

Snowballs are white, as the name implies, and they bloom early. Hydrangeas may be white, blue, pink and in-between. They are blooming now (letter dated Aug. 1). From the dictionary: "Snowball - any of cultivated white-flowered viburnums; see also viburnums. Hydrangea - (genus name) from `hydr' plus Greek `angeion'; (see for description)." See also dictionaries of plants and shrubs. I hope you have not yet published a book! V.W., Stuart

A: I must make three points. In the next sentence after asking how to start a snowball bush, writer R.M. from Roanoke (Aug. 1) stated that his wife loves the blue bush that his neighbor has. The reference to blue flowers tells us the reference to a snowball bush is about a hydrangea.

I looked up "snowball bush" in the plant common name index of the book "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants" by Dr. Michael A. Dirr, an excellent book that is used in teaching horticulture. Under that, he lists Wild Snowball (botanic name Ceanothus americanus), which has small white flowers borne in clusters in June and July, and Chinese Snowball, which is a viburnum and possibly what you referred to.

If I ever do publish a book, I hope to avoid the confusion of using various common names for plants that your letter points out. Folks may get frustrated with scientific names for plants, but avoidance of that confusion created from use of plant common names was given as the reason for identifying perennials by their scientific names in a guided tour I took of the Virginia Tech Horticulture Gardens.

Send short questions about your lawn, garden, plants or insects to Dear John, c/o the Roanoke Times & World-News, P. O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491. We need your mail, but this column can't reply to all letters. Those of wide appeal will be answered each week. Personal replies cannot be given. Please do not send stamped envelopes, samples or pictures.

John Arbogast is the agricultural extension agent for Roanoke.

by CNB