THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 
135 
The most practical means of obtaining young trees for nut 
purposes at the present time is to plant nuts from selected 
trees. This method will, of course, lead to the wide variation 
common with seedling trees, but until experienced propaga¬ 
tors meet with better success in their efforts at grafting or 
budding this species than in the past, there is little use for the 
amateur to undertake it. 
The American Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) 
The American black walnut is common to much the same 
general area as the shagbark hickory. It is much less 
exacting in its soil and moisture requirements than that 
species and is much more frequent within the same area. Its 
representatives, either native or planted, are found in almost 
every kind of soil and at nearly every degree of elevation 
from the well drained lowlands to the mountain sides. As 
with the shagbark, few varieties of the black walnut have 
been introduced. The same interest is now being shown by 
leaders in nut culture in their efforts to locate and insure for 
propagation superior varieties of black walnuts as with the 
shagbarks. 
The Butternut {Juglans cinerea) 
The butternut or white walnut, as it is sometimes called, 
is one of the most neglected of our native nut-bearing trees. 
In the forest it abounds under much the same conditions as 
does the black walnut, to which it is closely related. Its 
native range within the entire United States extends further 
to the East and North and is not found so far to the South or 
West as is the black walnut. Like the shagbark, it is 
generally less abundant within the area of its native range 
than is either the chestnut or the black walnut within their 
respective native areas. 
So far as is known to the writer, not a single variety of the 
butternut has been introduced. 
The Pecan {Hicoria pecan) 
The pecan is native to a very small portion of the area 
under discussion. North of the thirty-eighth parallel, it 
is found native along the river bottoms bordering on the 
Mississippi River and its tributaries to Davenport, Iowa, 
Terre Haute, Indiana, and nearly to Cincinnati. 
Scattered individual trees are by no means rare in Illinois, 
Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, as 
far north as the forty-first parallel, and they are occasionally 
found in the lower parts of Michigan, New York, and Con¬ 
necticut. In rare instances, they have been reported near 
the Atlantic Coast in Massachusetts. 
It is doubtful if any of these northern trees, which are 
well outside of the area included by the native range of the 
pecan have yet borne nuts of good size and quality to an 
important extent. The efforts to carry the pecan beyond 
the limits of its accepted range have thus far been mainly 
by the planting of seedling nuts. During the past three or 
four years, intelligent efforts have been made by several 
persons in the State of Indiana to locate wild or seedling 
trees of sufficient merit to justify their propagation as named 
varieties for northern planting. Already they have called to 
attention and are propagating as rapidly as possible the 
Indiana, the Busseron, the Major, the Greenriver, the 
Warrick, and the Hinton. Some of these varieties compare 
favorably in the matter of size with the average pecans of the 
South, and while none of those yet discovered are of extremely 
thin shell, in points of plumpness, richness, bright color of 
kernel and pleasant fla\"or, one or two of these northern 
varieties are not excelled by any of the southern sorts. 
Scions and buds from these trees have been used in the 
propagation of nursery trees, and already a few trees have 
been disseminated. Several nurseries are now propagating 
these varieties, but all combined their output will necessarily 
be very limited for some years to come. 
Somewhat in advance of the steps taken in Indiana, two 
varieties, the Mantura and the Appomattox, have been 
introduced from southeastern Virginia by Mr. W. N. Roper 
of Petersburg. 
The Mantura pecan is distinctly of the southern tyjie, 
large, thin shelled, and a ready cracker. It has been dis¬ 
seminated throughout the North to some extent when 
grafted upon the stocks of northern seedlings, and it is highly 
probable more hardy trees will be the result. 
The Appomattox pecan has not yet been propagated to 
great extent. Since the variety was called to public atten¬ 
tion, a horse stable has been erected immediately under the 
tree; and consequently, being greatly over-supplied with 
nitrogen, it has been unable to normally develop its crops. 
Good specimens, therefore, have not been obtainable for 
description during the past several years. 
In the mind of the introducer, however, it is a valuable 
variety, and well worthy of further observation. 
The Shellbark Hickory {Hicoria laciniosa) 
The shellbark hickory is much less common and far less 
well known than is the shagbark. In its native range, it 
appears in certain counties of central New York, eastern 
Pennsylvania, and in parts of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi¬ 
gan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. 
According to “Nut Culture in the United States,’’ * this 
species attains its “greatest development along the streams 
of southern Kansas and Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma.’’ 
The nuts of this species are considerably larger than those 
of the shagbark, and of much thicker shell, and commonly 
do not have as plump kernels. Exceedingly few have been 
propagated. 
The American Hazels {Corylus Americana; Corylus ros- 
trata) 
Shrubs of these two species are often seen growing together 
throughout the greater portion of the area under discussion. 
The former (6’. Americana) is of somewhat the better quality. 
Neither has been propagated asexually or cultivated to any 
extent, but it is doubtful if any native species of the nut tree 
offers a more inviting field for improvement than do these 
two species of hazels. The same methods of searching out 
the individuals of superior merit to that of the general 
average for propagation by grafting and budding by which 
other nut trees are being improved should be followed with 
the hazels. 
*Published by the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1S96. 
