o 



PROMISING NEW FRUITS. 505 



HOLLIS. 



(SYNONYMS: IMltft Jumbo; Jumbo; Risien, through error; Post's Select, in part; 



Georgia Belle.} 



The original tree of this variety is a wild seedling which was dis- 

 covered on the Colorado River bottom, on the farm of the late Thomas 

 Hollis, near Bend, San Saba County, Tex., now owned by Mr. P. B. 

 McCoury. It is reported to be from 75 to 100 years old, 100 feet 

 high, and 3 feet in diameter. It has averaged about 300 pounds of 

 nuts per annum for several years, and yielded 5^0 pounds in 1905. a 

 This original tree has long had a high local reputation in the region of 

 its origin, where it has been known as "Jumbo "and "Hollis's Jumbo." 

 It appears to have been first propagated by Mr. E. E. Risien, of San 

 Saba, Tex., about 1884, he having received scions of it from the late 

 Dr. Gregg, of that place. Its general introduction under the name 

 Hollis appears due to Mr. C. Falkner, of Waco, Tex., who began its 

 nursery propagation about 1900. Since that time it has been consid- 

 erably disseminated throughout central and eastern Texas by top-graft- 

 ing and through nursery stock. Nuts from the original tree are 

 reported to have been exhibited at the New Orleans Exposition in 

 1884-85 by Mr. F. H. Holloway, then of Burnet, but now of Fairland, 

 Tex. 6 Nuts from the same tree have been widely sold for seed since 

 about 1899 under the name " Post's Select," which had previously been 

 applied to the Post, an entirely distinct variety. c Specimens of the 

 Hollis, received from Mr. F. M. Ramsej^, then of Bluffton, Tex., in 1891, 

 under the name "Jumbo," were described and illustrated under that 

 name in 1896, d and other specimens received from Mr. E. E. Risien, 

 San Saba, Tex., in November, 1890, without name, appear to have 

 been erroneously described and illustrated under the name "Risien" 

 in the same publication/ 



DESCRIPTION. 



Size medium to large, averaging about 45 to 50 to the pound; form 

 roundish oblong, with very blunt base and apex, very regular and 

 symmetrical; color rather dull yellowish brown, with numerous pur- 

 ple splashes; shell thick, with partitions thick but soft, rendering the 

 cracking qualit}^ good; kernel short, plump, rather dark in color, 

 broadly grooved, releasing the shell easily, and of excellent form for 

 confectioners' use; texture firm, but rather coarse; flavor sweet: quality 

 good to very good. 



Letters of P. B. McCoury, Bend, Tex., January, 1906. 



& Letter of Mrs. M. E. Hollis, Lometa, Tex., March, 1906. 



<\See Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture for 1904, p. 411, PI. LVII. 



<*Nut Culture in the United States, Division of Pomology, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, p. 63, PI. IX, fig. 7. 



"Nut Culture in the United States, Division of Pomology, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, p. 64, PI. VIII, fig. 14. 



