southern Indiana. The nuts of this variety 
are regularly more than two inches long, 
much larger than any Southern pecan. Can 
crack them in your hand. Like many hybrids 
it is a very rapid grower. Has beautiful 
glossy foliage and is a charming shade tree. 
I cannot recommend it as a heavy bearer al¬ 
though there is a record of a bushel of nuts 
from a ten year old tree —well fed. Most 
people with room will want a tree that is so 
unique as this king of all the known Hickory 
species or varieties. 
Grafted Hybrid Hickory 
I have a few trees of Stratford. This tree 
looks like the Eastern Shagbark ( ovata ) but 
it is a hybrid. It grows rapidly and is also 
an early and regular bearer. I have had them 
bear in the nursery the year after being 
grafted, and they often bear in the woods 
the second or third year after grafting on to 
wild trees. Kernels come out in complete 
halves. 
Persimmon 
Every yard needs one or more persimmon 
trees. 1 cannot understand why this de¬ 
licious native fruit has been neglected so 
long. Excepting the date, it is the most 
nutritious fruit grown in the United States. 
Early Golden has ripened September 25th 
here at Round Hill, Va., whether there had 
or had not been frost. Some years they keep 
on ripening for two months. My trees have 
borne four consecutive heavy crops. If you 
taste one you want a saucerful. The tree is 
pleasing in appearance, with cylindrical 
form. 
Kansas. This is an unusually hardy tree. A 
native of Kansas, it has survived for years 
at Williamsburg, Iowa. 
Care of Trees 
Nut trees have great root systems. It is 
certainly true that young hickories and 
pecans have more root than top. If you had 
all the roots of such a tree you would need 
a hole as deep as a well and as wide as a 
small house foundation in which to plant it. 
Transplanting such trees is an act of violence 
at best. The tops should be reduced to match 
the reduction of roots. Therefore 1 trim all 
trees severely unless buyer especially re¬ 
quests otherwise. I also wax the trunks, 
which gives transplanting a higher per¬ 
centage of success. 
We beg that the trees be protected by 3 or 
4 foot radius of straw , strazvy manure or 
paper mulch for the first two years, and 
watered if drought comes. It is really scan¬ 
dalous the way some people will pay good 
money for trees and then kill the trees by 
neglect. I want your trees to grow. Cultivate 
them. After the first year put on hen manure 
or other fertilizer and watch them make 
double or treble growth. 
Stock Food That Grows on Trees 
The Honey Locust Tree bears beans. Some 
of them are long beans having sugar in the 
pods as well as seeds. Indeed the Honey 
Locust pod is the richest sugar plant known. 
Some years ago I offered prizes for the best 
beans and one lot measured 16 inches long, 
weighed 17 to the pound when bone dry and 
analyzed 29% sugar. That explains why 
children and farm stock eat these pods so 
keenly. Miss Williams, the owner of that 
prize tree reports that she has “a great 
many trees in pastures where the cattle can 
pick up the pods as they fall.” She makes it 
a point to set out young trees whenever labor 
is available in the spring. She also collects 
pods from trees growing in situations other 
than pastures and grinds many of these into 
a cattle meal. She states that by grinding the 
pods, the seeds are made available for food. 
She has been utilizing Honey Locust pods 
for many years. 
Miss Williams estimated that she has 
several hundred trees on her approximately 
400 acres of land, and that the yield in 1934 
was approximately 1,500 bushels of pods. 
She notes that there is a great variation in 
the characteristics of the various trees on her 
property. 
Miss Williams states that very often 
several head of young stock are left out all 
winter to feed on the Honey Locust and 
that such animals are in excellent condition 
in the spring. 
Another farmer says “and all bear an 
awful big crop of beans which the stock like 
so well that they will break down the fence 
to get them.” 
1 have a few trees grafted from Miss Wil¬ 
liams’ best tree. The original tree is growing 
a few miles west of Atlanta, Georgia, al¬ 
titude 1000 feet. It has had zero weather and 
grafts from it have proved perfectly hardy 
at Hartford, Connecticut. 
Try some, especially if you happen to have 
the great gift of Curiosity or wish to experi¬ 
ment. There is a full account of the Honey 
Locust in the book TREE CROPS, see last 
page this circular. 
