LUTHER BURBANK 



All these varied members of the shagbark tribe 

 bore nuts that had an unmistakable individuality 

 of flavor that distinguished them from any other 

 nuts. Much as they varied in size and degrees of 

 excellence, all of them were hickory nuts, and 

 could be mistaken for nothing else. There were, 

 however, other hickory trees growing in equal 

 abundance on my father's place, though they dif- 

 fered essentially in appearance from the shagbark 

 nuts, that produced nuts of a far less interesting 

 character. 



Hickories of this kind were locally called pig- 

 nuts. They are classified by the botanist as 

 Hicoria glabra. 



The trees of this species are more upright and 

 symmetrical, and of much more rapid growth than 

 the shagbark. The nut has a thin husk-like shell, 

 but the meat is difficult to remove, and is so ill- 

 flavored that it is little prized by any one. Indeed, 

 the nuts are usually not gathered at all if shagbark 

 hickories of any quality can be obtained. 



Nevertheless, there was great diversity among 

 the pig-nuts no less than among the hickories of 

 the better species. So with these also there is 

 doubtless opportunity for improvement through 

 selective breeding, although up to the present time 

 no comprehensive experiments in this direction 

 have been made. 



[134] 



