Dorothea Meyer Harmeier and Heinrick Frederick Hassebrock

Uncle Herman Hassebrock

Artcicle appearing 09/01/1949.

by Jack Wills

"Better fruits and fairer flowers." were the aims of Luther Burbank, famed American plant breeder. Herman Hassebrock, the Burbank of Fayette County, has achieved such goals on his farm South of Shobonier.

A "fairer flower" was the first thing this Leader reporter noticed on approaching the Hassebrock orchard, which is located one mile south and three miles east of Shobonier.

At the entrance of the naturalist's driveway is what at first appears to be a strikingly beautiful sunflower. The stalk of the plant is that of a sunflower, but he bloom itself is far more beautiful.

Tiny yellow petals completely fill the blossom and replaced the center of brown seeds that is the characteristic of sunflowers, "wild rose of Texas" is the name of this beautiful bloom which the 72-year-old Hassebrock has combined with the ruggedness of the sunflower.

Speaking in bursts of English, the German-American farmer gladly tells a curious visitor all he wants to know about the unique specimens of nature found on the Hassebrock farm.

"You see that tree over there? That's the first tree I ever grafted seventeen years ago, it was. I wanted to graft an English walnut branch on a black walnut root, but everyone pooh-poohed me, saying it couldn't be done. University professors said English walnuts just wouldn't grow in the climate."

Like all persons who depart from the conventional, Hassebrock had confidence in himself and continued with his experiment. As time passed, the professors dropped in occassionally to razz him about his English walnuts.

Four varities of Apples, One Tree

"But I went on," says the oldtimer. "I told them maybe they hadn't tried to grow English walnut trees the right way. They have roots that run along the top of the ground. Black walnuts have tap roots that reach down deep, making them harder than the English variety. That's why my grafted trees grew all right."

This was only the start. Continuing his hobby of grafting, the farmer began experimenting with fruits and flowers, etc. Now he grows four different varieties of apples on one tree. "See there are Golden Delicious, those, Grimes Golden, those overe there sour apples and these, Rusty Coats

Never Had an Education

"Rusty Coats?" questioned the writer. (that's what it sounded like) "How do you spell that?" "I don't know how to spell it, I just grow the things" added Hassebrock as a grin spread over his massive face. "That's the trouble with me, I never had an education, or maybe I'd done something like that Burbank fellow."

The old farmer has plenty to keep his busy. Besides his hobby, he cares for several hundred peach trees that provide livelihood. "Spraying, pruning, picking, packing, there's an awful lot to it" he said as he sat down to rest a bit.

People Are Crazy

"Won't be long though, till I won't have any more peach trees. Gonna take them out one of these days. See what I've got now? Black walnut trees planted between every row of peach trees. All I'll have to do is pull out my peach trees, and there'll be my walnut grove."

Why walnuts instead of peaches? "Because my peach orchard is getting pretty old now. Walnut trees live for a hundred years or so, but peach trees are only good for seven to 10 years. I can't keep peaches after they're ripe, but I can keep walnuts indefinately without having them spoil. People are crazy to keep shade trees in their yards and get nothing from them," stated Hassebrock firmly. "Now you take those English walnut trees--they given plenty of shade and provide nuts, too. They don't make any more leaves than maple trees, either.

Nuts Instead of Meat

"Besides, most people like nuts to eat. They could take the place of meat in a lot of diets. If people only realized it. For every 40 lbs of nuts, you can count of being able to eat 10 lbs of nut meats. And it only take two years for seedlings to grow--which is much faster that most shade trees," he pointed out.

Hassebrock would like to see some nursery take over his project of growing English walnuts on black walnut trees.

"Maybe one of these days I won't be around here," he says matter-of-factly. "I'd like to have someone get some good out of what I know. And everything I do know for certain--English walnuts can be grown in this climate, because I've done it."

Russian Walnuts

Other varieties of walnuts have been grown by Hassebrock. One of the professors who first poo-poohed the English walnut idea later went to Russia. He sent the Shoebonier farmer some Russian wood which had been well wrapped and taken care of after it had been cut.

Although the wood had been cut about a year by the time Hassebrock received it, the branch bloomed the third year after it had been grafted onto the black walnut root.

In former years, Hassebrock experimented wtih several varieties of plum and prune trees, but he has not done anything along this line for several years now. It is interesting to note the famed Burbank spent over 40 years experimenting with plum and prune trees much in the same manner as Hassebrock did.

Sounds Simple--But Is Isn't

Although they are a like in several respects, Burbank was an educated man, whereas, Hassebrock has learned everything he knows by doing it the hard way.

When you ask just how he grafts a shoot onto another tree, he says, "oh, I just cut off a branch, spit on it, and wrap it up after I've placed it on the new stalk."

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But if you pin him down, the veteran plant grower will grudgingly admit that it takes a bit of knowledge to know just where and when to make graft. Successful grafting can only be done on the most plants during one or two weeks of the year, he said.

Limbs Break With Weight of Fruit

Besides this apple trees which bear mixed fruit, Hassebrock has 40 acres which grow only one variety. "Now this tree here," he said as he pointed to a loaded York Imperial, "it bore 52 bushels of apples in a year. See how heavy the limbs are with fruit? I have to go around and put props under the limbs, or they break with the weight of the apples."

After tasting every variety of fruit and nut that grows on the Hassebrock orchard, the Leader reporter went away with a firm conviction that Hassebrock is a sensible man, regardless of what the university professors said. It won't be long until September is here and with September and fall comes that yearly task of raking up leaves from the old maples out in the front yard. Wouldn't it be nice to have a few bushels of meatly nuts along with those leaves.

John William Hassebrock and Annie H. Slavik's Marriage License