41 



there are good varieties, and getting the scientific men working to 

 get better ones. 



Mr. Neilson: There is a gentleman in Kitchener who got scions 

 of the persimmon and grafted them on the plum tree. He told me 

 he grew fruit and enjoyed it a great deal. It lived for several years, 

 but finally died. 



Question: What winter temperature would that tree stand? 



Mr. Hershey: We get 10 to 15 degrees below zero. 



This is a filbert hedge at Mr. Littlepage's. He gets lots of nuts 

 off them. They make an excellent screen, and are very attractive. 

 They bear a very peculiar cluster of nuts. The catkins hang on all 

 winter. Then they bloom in the spring, very early before you think 

 there is any plant life going. The female bloom is a very delicate red 

 flower which, with the long catkins flying in the wind, is very beau- 

 tiful. 



All the hickories are American, although I understand there has 

 been one found in China, which, however, is almost worthless as an 

 edible nut. 



There are about 15 varieties of the hickory in America and there 

 are only a few of them that are worth while. The most likely ones are 

 the shagbark, an eastern variety; the shellbark, a western variety, and 

 the hybrids between them and the bitter nut, which itself is almost 

 worthless to eat but makes an excellent parent. Some of the best 

 hybrids are between the bitternut and the shagbark, and between the 

 pecan and the shellbark. 



There are two trees of the McCallister pecan shellbark hybrid in 

 Delaware. As the parent tree died a few months ago these two trees 

 are the only bearing trees in America and they have been bearing 

 quite profitably. It was at one time thought that the McCallister 

 hybrid would not fill, but these trees have proved on poor Delaware 

 sand that they can fill their nut with delicious meat. The flavor of 

 the kernel is very much like that of the shellbark. The nut is of 

 enormous size, much larger than the largest pecan and has nearly as 

 thin a shell as the pecan. 



The hickory nut has been held in deep respect by mankind as far 

 back as we can find on the American continent. The Indians used to 

 gather them. The Creeks used to gather 100 bushels per family. They 

 used to grind them into powder in the old fashioned mortar to a 



