r than that of the stock a few inches
below the graft union. I also noticed that, although the graft began to
bear about as early as black walnuts do when they are grafted on their
own species, the nuts did not mature at all during the first few years
of bearing. In 1938, after a favorable season, I found mature nuts on
one variety, the Thomas. These nuts varied in size more than they do
when grafted on black walnut. The most surprising thing about them,
though, was that they did not have the characteristic black walnut
flavor. When properly dried and cured, they could have passed as an
entirely different nut since they tasted like neither the black walnut,
the butternut nor the Persian walnut.

The overgrowth of the Ohio black walnut, grafted on butternut, was even
more apparent than that of the Thomas. These nuts were, as I have said,
immature the first few years they appeared and they, too, lacked the
usual black walnut flavor. In their case, however, the most striking
change was in the shape and structure of their shells which were
elongated like butternuts, with corrugations typical of those found on
butternuts and nearly as deep and sharp. (See Illustration in Chapter 1,
Page 5.)

In 1937, I made experimental graftings on native black walnut stocks of
the Weschcke No. 4 butternut, a variety I found to be superior to
hundreds of other native trees tested. The grafts grew luxuriantly and
in 1940, produced about two pounds of nuts. These nuts were
approximately 30% larger than those on the parent tree. They cracked
well and the kernels were similar to those from the parent tree. They
definitely distinguished themselves, however, by being a free-hulling
nut, which is not true of the mother tree nor of most butternuts. Soon
after the nuts had dropped to the ground and were still green, they were
hulled and their hulls peeled off like those of the Persian walnut,
leaving the nuts clean and free from remnants. Apparently this
phenomenon was a transient one since later crops did not display this
free-hulling feature.

I have mentioned, elsewhere, the seedling apricot which came into
bearing in St. Paul, and how I obtained grafts before it died during a
very cold winter. I have grafted scions of this apricot on both hybrid
and wild plum stocks repeatedly and this apricot now exhibits a material
gain in hardiness. It overgrows the plum stock, but this does not seem
to inhibit its bearing, the fruit growing to greater siz