hybrid offspring. Owing to the laws of 
genetics, the nuts from these hybrid trees 
revert again and make trees like both 
parents and not like themselves. 
Many of the nuts that have come in as 
candidates for prizes in the Northern Nut 
Growers <Association’s contests are hy- 
brids, and fortunately one of the char- 
acteristics of some hybrid trees is great 
vigor of growth, I find that in testing out 
varieties by topworking them on wild 
trees in the woods the hybrids are much 
easier to graft than the purebreds, and 
two of them which I have for sale are 
much more precocious and prolific than 
the purebreds. These two varieties, the 
Fairbanks and the Stratford, are both 
natives of Iowa. Both appear to be at 
least half Shagbark. Both of them begin 
to bear in the third or fourth season after 
being grafted on the wild tree in the 
woods, and a grafted nursery tree will 
bear as soon as apple trees or even sooner 
than some, if properly fed. 
The flavor of these nuts is gratifying, 
and if you have room for several trees you 
should certainly have one of each. They 
seem to be as hardy as pure Shagbarks 
and can be planted in its range. For the 
lawn they have all the virtues of the true 
Shagbark. The Fairbanks grows almost as 
rapidly as a maple tree. Fairbanks has 
lived and ripened in the 40-50 degrees be- 
low zero area near Minneapolis. 
The experimenter who is going to graft 
wild trees should by all means use a few 
Stratford. They are so encouraging to the 
beginner—easy to graft, and they bear so 
soon, and they keep it up year after year. 
Some of mine, top-worked on wild trees in 
a rocky cow pasture, have not missed pro- 
ducing a good crop for six years, includ- 
ing drought years, but the trees were 
manured once. 
The Hiccan 
The Pecan also indulges in this natural- 
hybridizing business, and, being a Hick- 
ory, there are some natural hybrids of 
Pecan and other Hickories. These are 
called Hiccans and I offer for sale three of 
them which show their hybrid character 
by growing almost as rapidly as maple 
trees. That old idea that all nut trees are 
slow growers certainly does not apply to 
these Hiccans. 
Right up in the northwest corner of 
Pecan territory, namely, southeastern 
Iowa, two Hiceans have been found and 
are now available, under the names of 
13 

McCallister Hiccan 8/9 natural size. 
Burlington and Des Moines. The original 
Burlington tree is a giant standing on the 
banks of the Mississippi River beside the 
water works of the city of Burlington, 
Towa. It has been propagated for some 15 
years or more, has proved itself hardy at 
Minneapolis and Ithaca, N. Y. It is quite 
up to the fruiting range of the Pecan and 
probably reaches a little north of it. 
(III and IV for shade; V for nuts in warm 
seasons or favored locations; VI, reason- 
able expectation of nuts in good loca- 
tions. ) 
The foliage is of the Hickory type, with 
a glint of gold on the large dark-green 
leaves. It is a magnificent lawn tree, and 
while it is not a heavy bearer, the nuts are 
of such unusual flavor that I think the 
nut expert of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture was right when he 
said that everybody ought to have at least 
one Burlington because it was such a 
beautiful tree and bears nuts of such ex- 
cellent quality. A Burlington tree adds 
weight to a landscape. 
The Des Moines, also from Iowa, has the 
small, feathery leaf of the Pecan type 
with leaflets smaller than most Pecan 
trees. It has a distinctly tropical look, it is 
probably a better bearer than the Burling- 
ton, and its nuts might pass for Pecans. 
This tree also is a rapid grower. It has 
not been tested long enough to know what 
its northern range is, but presumably it 
can go wherever the Burlington can, and 
if you have room for only one of these two 
trees and are insistent on nuts, I think 
the Des Moines will probably give you 
more nuts. The Des Moines tree gives the 
sense of feathery lightness and seems to 
be as hardy as Burlington. 
