LUTHER BURBANK 



on qualities that the most sanguine experimenter 

 of to-day would scarcely dare to predict. 



As to the technique of hybridizing the various 

 nut-bearers, there is no difficulty whatever. 

 Chestnuts, walnuts, hickories, and pecans all be- 

 long to a tribe of trees characterized by bearing 

 the staminate and pistillate flowers in separate 

 clusters. To effect cross-fertilization, nothing 

 more is necessary than to bring a bunch of stam- 

 inate flowers, when the pollen is ripe, and brush 

 them freely against a bunch of pistillate flowers. 



To avoid contamination with other pollen, it 

 will be advisable to tie a paper bag about the 

 bunch of pistillate flowers, leaving it there a few 

 days until the stigmas have passed the receptive 

 stage. 



DEVELOPMENT THKOUGH SELECTION 



You need not wait for the coming of another 

 season, however, in order to begin work with the 

 nut-bearers. 



If you will stroll into the woods in your neigh- 

 borhood this autumn and carefully examine the 

 nuts fallen from different hickory trees, you will 

 quickly discover that these vary greatly. Some 

 trees bear uniformly large, thin-shelled nuts; 

 others just as regularly bear small, thick-shelled 

 ones. Here, then, is opportunity for immediately 

 beginning experiments in selective breeding. 



You must be forewarned, however, that the nuts 

 taken from any individual tree have probably a 



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