166 NUT GROWING 



and is applied to the most evident parent among 

 hybrids. As a matter of fact in horticultural circles 

 we are doing precisely that sort of thing already, 

 speaking, for example, of "Brown's pecan/' and 

 meaning by that a nut which we recognize as being 

 a hybrid, brought to public attention by Brown but 

 with the pecan as the parent most strongly in evi- 

 dence. 



When I was a boy the only hickory nuts of any 

 sort available were those collected from wild trees. 

 The popular boy was the one who knew of some tree 

 which furnished the best nuts and who did not keep 

 the news to himself but looked upon the owner of 

 the tree as a public benefactor, regardless of what the 

 owner thought about it. The squirrels knew the best 

 nuts as well as the boys did and they would go past 

 many other hickory trees in order to congregate in 

 some one tree which had nuts with the thinnest shell 

 and plumpest meats of best quality. The squirrel is 

 classed among the dumb animals by theologians but 

 in the early morning hours I have seen several squir- 

 rels in one particularly good hickory nut tree and not 

 a single squirrel in a tree laden with second rate nuts 

 but with its branches touching those of "the bully 

 tree." Here and there attempts have been at propa- 

 gating fine hickories of various species by planting 

 nuts. It is not as yet generally known to people 

 excepting botanists that the varieties of hickories 

 are so thoroughly crossed, like varieties of apples, 

 that they will not reproduce true to type from seed. 

 The Schley pecan will not produce Schley pecans 



