96 



for such can be made clear, also an idea given of the results likely to be 

 obtained. 



If it were a fact that we could get the best varieties of all nuts by 

 simply discovering trees now in existence which bear them there would 

 be no need for a nut arboretum. The problem would be simply to con- 

 tinue searches for fine nuts and test out the fine varieties found. In the 

 case of some nuts satisfactory varieties have been found by simply dis- 

 covering existing nuts. This is the case with the southern pecan. It is 

 liard to imagine a variety more delicious than the Schley and this wa,'\ 

 simply a seedling tree discovered by the late A. G. Delmas of Pasca- 

 goula, ^liss. In this connection I shall never forget the remarks of 

 Judge Edwards at the Austin meeting of the National Pecan Growers 

 Association which it was my privilege to attend. He said that he liad 

 a great admiration for the Northern Nut Growers Association for the 

 remarkable work they were doing with the stubborn material with which 

 Uiey had to work, that in the case of the southern (the convention was 

 an assembly of growers of southern pecans) all necessary to do was 

 simply to select from what God in His bounty had provided, while in 

 the case of the North it was necessary to resort to plant breeding and 

 actually to originate what never existed before. I don't know that 

 Judge Edwards ever considered himself a "prophet" or "the son of a 

 prophet" but the wisdom of his utterance is now history. Those who 

 have followed the matter most closely are convinced that while in the 

 case of some nuts, notably the black walnut, we have varieties that are 

 apparently going to be just what we want for orchard planting, in the 

 case of others we have not, and that it is going to be necessary to resort 

 to ]ilant breeding to get them. 



This can be made clearer by an example. In the case of the hick- 

 ories which have been selected as wortliy of places in nut proving 

 grounds, because of the excellence of the nuts they bear, it is being 

 gradually learned that a larger and larger proportion are hybrids. 

 There is one class, hybrids between the shagbark and the bitternut, 

 of which three varieties are being propagated, the Beaver, the Fair- 

 banks and the Laney. The shagbark, Carya ovata, is. everything con- 

 sidered, the species of hickory which bears the best nuts, and yet the 

 three varieties above named are larger, have thinner shell, and con- 

 sequently have much more kernel and would sell all around the average 

 shagbark hickory nut. In the case of the Beaver the shagbark tree 



