97 



which bore the nut from which the parent Beaver tree grew is still 

 standing, or at least was a few years ago, and the nut is a very ordinary 

 one. The nuts it bears would be termed ordinary hickories and would 

 sell for not more than a few cents a pound. The improvement effected 

 by bitternut pollen on a flower of this particular tree has been remark- 

 able. The bitternut tree which supplied the pollen some 50 years ago 

 is not now standing but there is no reason to believe it to have been any- 

 thing but an ordinary bitternut. All bitternuts bear nuts that are 

 inedible on account of the bitter kernel, or more correctl}' on account of 

 the bitter skin which covers the kernel. In the case of the Beaver 

 hickory we have the remarkable case of ordinary-j-worthless=:extra- 

 ordinary. What would have happened had we had choice specimens of 

 shagbark and bitternut trees from which to make such a hybrid? We 

 can only imagine but in all probability it would have been way ahead of 

 what we have. 



We can note a fact from the science of chemistry which also may be 

 helpful in showing that in otlier branches of science the most valuable 

 of results frequently come from the union of seemingly unpromising 

 material. Take the metal sodium for example. It would burn you 

 should you touch it and kill you if you ate it. Chlorine also is a deadly 

 gas that was used in the Great War to kill men by the thousands, yet 

 when these two elements combine they form ordinary salt which is 

 absolutely necessary for human existence. We do not know in advance 

 the effect of combining different nuts any more than we do about dif- 

 ferent chemicals. We do know, however, that there are great possibili- 

 ties. 



There is another example in the case of the hazel. The hazels which 

 bear the filberts of commerce are foreign species. The nuts are large 

 and satisfactory as commercial varieties where they can be grown. 

 Unfortunately, with the exception of a few favored locations, they bear 

 very sparingly in the north-eastern United States. On the other hand 

 the American hazel bears bountifully over most of this section. Much 

 progress has been made in breeding hazels for the north-eastern United 

 States by making hybrids between the Rush, the best American hazel 

 that we have, and the best foreign hazels. While this work has been 

 going on but a few years we alread}^ have hybrids bearing nuts 

 larger than the largest foreign hazels, some of which are of great 



