108 



983 Main St., Hartford, Conn., Date. 



The nuts tliat you send for the prize contest of Tlie Northern Nut 

 Growers Association, I estimate as follows: 

 No. 



Size — small, average, large, very large. 

 Shell — thin, average, thick. 

 Cracking — poor, average, good. 

 Kernel — light, dark, brown, plump, shrunken. 

 Quality — poor, average, good, rich. 

 Good for home use. 

 Will receive further consideration. 



The nuts deemed worthy of further consideration were divided into 

 first and second choice. When all the nuts had been examined those of 

 first choice were gone over again and final selection made for submit- 

 ting to the committee of aw^ard. This final selection was taken to the 

 office of Dr. Smith in New York where the committee, composed of 

 Dr. Smith, Dr. IMorris, Mr. Bixby, Mr. Reed, Mr. Jones and Dr. Dem- 

 ing did its best to still further reduce the number of selected specimens. 

 This final selection was then referred to Mr. Bixby for critical tests. 



Notes and Incidents 

 The nuts were packed in every imaginable sort of container. Many 

 were sent in bags and this is the most satisfactory container for hard 

 shelled nuts. Many were so poorly packed that the nuts rattled out 

 ;is they were delivered and it was only by the grace of the post-office 

 employees, who soon came to know the destination of packages of black 

 walnuts, that they were ever delivered. The names and addresses were 

 lost, or not given, for some packages and a number must have been lost 

 altogether, judging by the number of letters announcing the sending of 

 nuts that were never received. The prize package of all was a casket 

 of heavy, polished black walnut wood put together with embossed 

 screws and with a copper name plate on the cover engraved with the 

 name of the sender. This sender was an undertaker. 



The number of packages in which each nut was wrapped separately 

 in tissue paper was astonishing. It was also somewhat boring to have 

 to unwrap each nut. One man sent two unwrapped bundles of what I 

 suppose he considered scions, and no nuts. A number sent unpro- 

 tected bunches of scions in the packages. One package of scions was 

 received in good condition. Many packages were insured, several sent 



