LUTHER BURBANK 
I have now little doubt that some of the variant 
hickories that I knew as a boy were hybrids. 
The two species of hickory are closely related, 
and I have reason to believe hybridize not infre- 
quently in the wild state. I have received speci- 
mens of hickory nuts from different parts of the 
United States that I feel certain were natural 
hybrids. And I entertain no doubt that such 
hybridization occurs not infrequently. 
It is probable that when the attempt is syste- 
matically made to develop the hickory nut the 
method of hybridizing the two species will be 
employed to give still wider variation and to 
facilitate a wider selection. 
Some EnorMovus Hickories 
There is a variety of the hickory nut that grows 
in the valleys of the Mississippi and the Ohio that 
is of relatively enormous size. The shell of this 
variety, however, is thick, and the meat is not 
generally as fine in flavor as that of the eastern 
shellbark hickory. But the size of this wild variety 
gives assurance that under cultivation and selec- 
tion the nut may be made to take on proportions 
that will be very attractive. Doubtless the com- 
paratively small size of the wild hickory nut has 
led to its neglect, although we must recall that the 
walnut and the butternut have also been neglected, 
notwithstanding their much larger size. 
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