ON PAPER-SHELL WALNUTS 
moist, loamy soil, in order to thrive. Trees that 
produce wood of such extraordinary hardness of 
‘texture, and nuts so stocked with fats and proteins, 
could not be expected to draw adequate nourish- 
ment from impoverished soil. In point of fact, 
the black walnut and the butternut, in the regions 
of the United States to which they are indigenous, 
are usually found growing along the rivers, or in 
rich alluvial valleys. Any idea that they could be 
raised to advantage on soil that is too poor to pro- 
duce ordinary crops of cereals or vegetables, is 
fallacious. 
At the moment, there is not demand enough 
for the black walnut or the butternut to justify 
the raising of these trees on a commercial scale. 
It will be necessary to produce new varieties by 
hybridization and selective breeding before these 
nuts can be made popular. But, as I said before, 
there is every reason to believe that a series of 
experiments looking to the production of improved 
varieties would be more than justified by the re- 
sults obtained, and I shall point out in another 
connection the commercial possibilities of produc- 
ing lumber trees in this way that make the project 
doubly attractive. 
It may be well to call attention to one or two 
peculiarities of the walnut that should be known 
to anyone that attempts hybridizing experiments. 
[57] 
