100 



making the cut shown and so used a Daviana nut which is similar to 

 a Cosford. The weight of Jones hazel 269 is double that of an 

 average Rush and Daviana nut together. While the testing of the 

 Jones hybrid hazels is not complete, it seems likely that we have some 

 that will prove commercially valuable. In this connection it should 

 be mentioned that in the work of Mr. Jones, only about 1000 hybrid 

 seedlings were set out, about l/lO the number usually thought neces- 

 sary to get worthwhile results. 



If, as in the case of the McCallister hickory and Beaver hickory, 

 we have very ordinary parents and an extraordinary offspring, what 

 can we expect from carefully selected parents? If, in the case of Mr. 

 Jones' hazel hybrids, we have selected parents but have made only 

 about l/lO the number usually thought advisable in such work, and 

 yet a remarkable result is shown, what may we expect with the proba- 

 bility for excellence multiplied ten times .^ 



In the matter of improving the beechnut we apparently must re- 

 sort to plant breeding. The beech is a nut excellent in every respect 

 except one. The shell is thin, a pocket knife is all that is needed to 

 get the kernel out; the flavor is fine, second in my judgment to none, 

 not excepting the pecan or hickory ; it does its best in the north in 

 sections where we now have almost no nuts that we can recommend. 

 Its small size, however, is such as to make the nuts scarcely worth 

 gathering. If we had a beech as large as a chestnut it would be 

 worth millions to the country. 



It is likely that work done for the purpose of breeding new va- 

 rieties of trees, valuable for the nuts they bear, is likely at the same 

 time to produce trees valuable for timber, for the nut trees are among 

 our most valuable timber trees. A study made not so long ago by one 

 of our forest experiment stations, to ascertain the reason for the wood 

 of some trees of a given species being better than the wood of other 

 trees of the same species, and to ascertain the conditions under which 

 the development of timber was at its best, came to the conclusion that 

 a tree that grew rapidly produced the best timber. It would seem 

 that the rings formed at the close of each annual growth are a source 

 of weakness, and the fewer of these the better the timber. This would 

 suggest that, for the production of best timber, the faster the tree 



