THE ROYAL WALNUT 71 



soils a tree grafted on this hybrid will produce 

 several times as many nuts as a tree of corre- 

 sponding age growing on its own roots. The 

 trees are also much less subject to blight when 

 they are thus grafted. 



It may be well to state here, as a matter of 

 history, that the two first hybrid walnuts ever 

 produced by the hand of man were first pro- 

 duced on my own grounds and first named, 

 described, and introduced by myself. 



GRAFTING THE WALNUT 



The importance of the new walnut and the 

 fact that it may best be propagated by grafting 

 makes it desirable to add a few details as to the 

 method by which grafting is effected; for in the 

 case of the walnut the process is far more difficult 

 than with ordinary fruit trees. 



Grafting the walnut is not, indeed, as difficult 

 as grafting the pecan or the hickory, with both 

 of which species the process was until recently 

 found impossible of accomplishment. In this 

 regard the walnut is rather to be likened to the 

 fig, both being difficult to graft, yet not pre- 

 senting insuperable difficulties for the skilled 

 operator. 



Persons who first attempted to graft the wal- 

 nut in California often failed four times out of 



