ON THE HICKORY NUT 
The chief reason why these nuts have been 
overlooked, doubtless, is that the idea of making 
nuts a cultivated crop, comparable to orchard 
fruits, has only recently been conceived in America 
—or at all events has only recently been given 
general recognition. 
It is not improbable that it may be found 
feasible to hybridize the hickory with the black 
walnut or the butternut. These trees, to be sure, 
do not belong to the same genus, but they are not 
very distantly related, and we have seen that 
generic bounds do not necessarily constitute 
impassable barriers. 
Could hybridization be effected between the 
hickory and either the walnut or the butternut, the 
product should be a nut of very great value. 
It would be necessary, of course, to breed 
selectively, doubtless for a number of generations, 
to secure size and quality, and in particular to 
develop a race of thin-shelled nuts. But that all 
this may be accomplished cannot greatly be in 
doubt. In any event, the experiment is well worth 
making. 
There is reason to expect that the next three 
or four generations will see somewhat the same 
rapid progress in the art of developing the nut- 
bearing trees that has been witnessed in the past 
three or four in the development of orchard fruits. 
[137] 
