168 NUT GROWING 



with precisely similar flavor. There are almost as 

 many variations of flavor as there are of faces of 

 people, all alike in a way but no two just alike. 

 Some of the most exquisite flavors are found in small 

 nuts and committees on prizes do not reckon size as 

 counting first place with this nut. Flavor comes 

 first, then cleavage or cracking quality, followed by 

 thinness of shell, size and color. Investigators into 

 the question of thinness of shell found that this 

 characteristic had its limitations. Shagbark trees 

 were found bearing nuts with a shell so thin that it 

 could be easily cracked in the hand holding two nuts. 

 Brittleness of the shell, however, caused it to crack 

 very much like an egg shell only at the immediate 

 point of application of force. A hickory nut with a 

 shell which allows of free cleavage and the dropping 

 out of the kernels in halves is better than one with 

 a very thin shell which cracks only over limited 

 areas in response to pressure or a blow. 



Mr. Willard G. Bixby, of Baldwin, New York, 

 who is at present giving close attention to nut ques- 

 tions in a thoroughly scientific way has the feeling 

 that some of the best nuts that are called shagbarks 

 really represent hybrids between species rather than 

 varieties. Many of the most desirable hickory nuts 

 which are now being cultivated are know to be spe- 

 cific hybrids. Some of these are more prolific and 

 more precocious in bearing than any of the pure 

 shagbarks. The original Weiker tree, for example, 

 has a record of twelve bushels to the crop while very 

 few pure shagbarks will yield three bushels to the 



