THE WALNUT. 227 



feet aboTO the surface of tlie ground, and is growing on 

 a farm near Houghton's Pond, in Milton, at the base of 

 the southeastern slope of the Blue Hills." 



That there should be hybrid walnuts is nothing 

 strange or wonderful, and we often marvel that there 

 should be so few of them in regions where two or more 

 species are growing in close proximity in the same forest 

 or elsewhere, but from whence came these specimens in 

 Massachusetts is somewhat of a mys.tery. "We may 

 safely conclude, however, that the hybridizing did not 

 occur there, but somewhere else, and either the nuts or 

 small seedling trees were introduced and planted where 

 these hybrid specimens are now growing. It is possible 

 that they are descendants of the old hybrid walnut tree 

 of New York city, mentioned by Le Conte and Dr. 

 Torrey, some one having sent nuts or seedlings to friends 

 in Massachusetts, and the three trees described by Prof. 

 Sargent are merely those which have survived until 

 the present day, these retaining the hybrid character- 

 istics of their parent. These hybrids may or- may not 

 possess any special economic value, but they are of con- 

 siderable scientific interest, and for this reason alone 

 are well worthy of careful preservation and extensive 

 propagation. 



Butternut Sugar. — It has often been claimed that 

 sugar can be made from the native butternut tree, and 

 while it is true that the sweetish sap flows readily from 

 wounds made in this tree in early spring, the amount 

 and quality of sugar to be obtained from it is scarcely 

 worthy of serious attention. In my boyhood days but- 

 ternut syrup and sugar were considered as "sticky jokes" 

 of 'the sugar camp. 



Hybrids in California. — Mrs. Ninetta Eames, 

 writing, in the American Agriculturist, of new varieties 

 of walnuts in California, refers to certain species and 

 varieties growing in that State, as follows : 



