WALNUTS 193 



colored kernel, excellent cracking cleavage, and shells 

 much thinner than those of the common run. One 

 of the members of the Northern Nut Growers' As- 

 sociation, Mr. Webber, found a black walnut in the 

 sand of a small stream emptying into the Ohio River. 

 It had a shell no thicker than that of the Mayette 

 Persian walnut. In the following year he found 

 another nut of the same sort carried down by the 

 same stream. Somewhere overhanging that creek 

 is a black walnut tree of inestimable value if it can 

 be found and if the quality of the kernel is good. 

 We shall find many kinds of black walnuts suitable 

 for propagation purposes. Grafted stock of the 

 Stabler, Thomas and Ohio varieties is already avail- 

 able from nurserymen. 



The United States Department of Agriculture has 

 brought forward for some years a black walnut 

 known as "the peanut/' The nut probably repre- 

 sents a flower bud defect, bearing a kernel in one 

 compartment of a defective shell. Not all of the 

 branches of the tree bear this particular freak, which 

 is desirable because the kernel comes out whole when 

 the nut is cracked. In all probability we may make 

 bud selection by marking branches which bear the 

 freak nut and then produce desirable trees from 

 grafts chosen by such selective budding. 



Perhaps the chief reason for neglect of propaga- 

 tion of the black walnut in the past has been due to 

 difficulties in grafting. The story told me by an old 

 hunter and trapper may doubtless be repeated with 

 variations by others : 



