186 THE KUT CULTURIST. 



country, because he was desirous of having the variety 

 preserved and propagated. During the following ten 

 years the old original tree was kept pretty well pruned, 

 in filling orders for cions ; those sent to nurserymen 

 were to be raised on shares, one-half of all the success- 

 fully grafted trees to be returned to Mr. Hales. Being 

 a near neighbor, my opportunities for keeping informed 

 as to the result of this arrangement was all that I could 

 desire. To one nursery firm in central New York Mr. 

 Hales sent about one thousand cions per annum for four 

 successive years, and in return received just four feeble 

 grafted plants as his share of the total product of the 

 four thousand cions. But as the four plants received 

 soon died, he closed that account as one of total loss. 

 Previously, however, he had sent a quantity of cions to 

 Mr. J. R. Trumpy, of the Kissena Nurseries, Flushing, 

 N. Y., whose skill as a propagator of ligneous plants is 

 probably second to that of no man in-this country; the 

 result proved that our faith in the man was not mis- 

 placed, for Mr. Hales received for his share of the ex- 

 periment something over two dozen grafted trees, and 

 most of these are now handsome specimens ten to twenty 

 feet high. Just what percentage of the cions set were 

 made to unite and grow I have not been informed, but 

 the experiment was, doubtless, rather unsatisfactory .as a 

 commercial transaction. 



In addition to the plants sent to Mr. Hales, there 

 have been quite a number distributed among the cus- 

 tomers of the nurseries named ; consequently, we are 

 pretty well assured of the perpetuation of this remark- 

 ably fine variety, even when the original tree succumbs 

 to old age, or should it be accidentally destroyed. I am 

 inclined to give Mr. Trumpy credit for being the first 

 man to graft the shellbark hickory in this or any other 

 country, and make the cions unite and grow, for I 

 have failed to find any instance of success in this mode 



