THE HICKORY NUT 83 



on proportions that will be very attractive. 

 Doubtless the comparatively small size of the 

 wild hickory nut has led to its neglect, although 

 we must recall that the walnut and the butternut 

 have also been neglected, notwithstanding their 

 much larger size. 



The chief reason why these nuts have been 

 overlooked, doubtless, is that the idea of making 

 nuts a cultivated crop, comparable to orchard 

 fruits, has only recently been conceived in Amer- 

 ica — or at all events has only recently been given 

 general recognition. 



There is reason to expect that the next genera- 

 tion will see somewhat the same rapid progress 

 in the art of developing the nut-bearing trees that 

 has been witnessed in the past three or four in the 

 development of orchard fruits. And certainly 

 the hickory nut, walnut, and butternut constitute 

 better native material than the wild plums, for 

 example, with the aid of which some of the finest 

 varieties of cultivated plums have been developed 

 within most recent years. 



And it must not be forgotten that the work of 

 developing our native nuts has already passed 

 the experimental stage with regard to at least one 

 species. This is the nearest relative of the 

 hickory, a member of the same genus, which is 

 familiar as the pecan. 



