Articles
SELECTION OF WALNUT VARIETIES IN CRIMEA
The excavations carried out in Kerch and Hersones showed that in the 4th and 3rd centuries before our era (b.o.e.) the peoples settled down in the coasts had cultivated walnut.
The walnut was introduced by the Greeks and other nations in the costs of Tavriola.
The walnut had found its second habitat under the favourable conditions of soil and climate and it became more and more popular in the whole peninsula.
The propagation by sowing of seeds lead to great variety of forms which was improved by the daily selection.
The systematic investigation of walnut in Crimea was begun under the direction of professor Klesznikov in 1936–40. As a result of the expeditionary observations in the zones of southern coast and of the foot of the hill more than 400 forms were collected, and from among them the most valuable high-yielding walnuts of good quality were selected after detailed analysis.
The seeds of these forms were handed over to the Crimean Pomological Station of V.I.R. of Crimea situated on the south-western part of the peninsula.
Seedlings were cultivated from them and in 1940 they were set to collection.
We carried out the biological studies of 112 forms between 1956 and 1986 with the aim of obtaining a more thorough knowledge of the biological and oecological characteristics of walnut in order to cultivate it on the basis of these experiments and to precise the methods of vegetative propagation so that we could choose the valuable species as breeding base and the promising ones for practical utilization.