GERARDI NURSERY 
O’FALLON, ILL. 
A Few Words Concerning Hicaiis 
Some of our eastern authorities on nut var¬ 
ieties claim that the hicans do not fill well in 
the east. This may be misleading. The writer 
knows that at least one of the hicans so label¬ 
ed is not long enough in the east to be bearing, 
for he has brought it to light and disseminated 
it and to his personal knowledge there is no 
tree old enough to be bearing in the east. An¬ 
other correction is in order. The scions of 
the Nussbaumer and Dintlemann hicans came 
from the same tree. There are many hicans 
in the creek and river bottoms in this (SL 
Clair) and adjacent counties but so far none 
come up to the Nussbaumer and Gerardi. Of tb? 
Nussbaumer there is but one tree old 'enough 
to bear and it is owned by a Mr. Miller at 
Bluff ton, Mo., which does not happen to be in 
the east. By this I do not wish to claim that 
hicans will fill well in the east. But they 
should be tried there before being condemned. 
In our opinion the Nussbaumer and Gerardi 
should not be planted farther north than Alton 
and as yet only in bottom land. While we 
have it growing nicely on high land its fruit¬ 
ing must still be determined on such land. We 
feel confident that south and east i^to K'"'- 
tucky these hicans will fill well. Mr. J. F. 
Wilkinson of Rockport, Ind., has the McAlest.r 
doing well enough. 
Chestnuts 
Since the chestnut blight reached Illinois we 
discontinued growing the European varieties, 
but are now stocking up on the Chinese hairy 
chestnut (Gastania Mollissima). Of these we 
will have a limited supply in ^1937 but only 
two varieties—the'*' Carr and Hobson. The 
Chinese chestnut is resistant to blight, bears 
young, and above all is sweet and does not 
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