an 50%
success with it. He was willing to discard his type of grafting for
mine, which was adequate for the work we were doing, but I wanted to
check his grafting performance and urged him to continue with his own
(an adaptation of the bark-slot graft to the end of a cut-off stub). We
both used paper sacks to shade our grafts. Although results proved that
my methods averaged a slightly higher percentage of successful graftings
in this latitude and for the type of work we were doing, his would
nonetheless be superior in working over trees larger than four inches in
diameter and having no lateral branches up to eight feet above ground,
at which height it is most convenient to cut off a large hickory
preparatory to working on it.

In the late fall of that year, we cut scionwood of the season's growth
and inverted large burlap bags stuffed with leaves over the grafts, the
bags braced on the inside by laths to prevent their collapsing on the
grafts. So we have perpetuated the following varieties:

Hickories: Cedar Rapids, Taylor, Barnes, Fairbanks.

Hiccans: McAlester, Bixby, Des Moines, Rockville, Burlington, Green
Bay.

The Major and Posey pure pecans being incompatible on bitternut hickory
roots were grafted on pecan stocks, but they proved to be tender to our
winters and the varieties were finally lost.

[Illustration: _Largest planted pecan in World having a record. About 17
ft. circumference breast height, 125 ft. spread and 125 ft. height. Very
small worthless pecans. Easton, Maryland. Photo by Reed 1927_]

Other experiments I have made with pecans include an attempt to grow
Southern pecans from seed, but they seem to be no more hardy than an
orange tree would be. It is certain that they are not at all suited to
the climate of the 45th parallel. In 1938, I received from Dr. W. C.
Deming of Connecticut, some very good nuts from a large pecan tree at
Hartford, Connecticut. Of the twelve pecans I planted, only six
sprouted, and of these, only one has survived up to this date and is now
a small weak tree. Apparently, the seedlings of this Hartford pecan are
not as hardy as those from Iowa.

[Illustration: _Iowa seedling Pecans. Tree planted in 1926 as seed.
First crop October 29, 1953. 7/8 of actual size. Nuts were fully
matured. Photo by C. Weschcke_]

Of the hiccans, hybrids between hickory and pecan, there are several
varieties, as I mentioned before. Of these, the McAlester is the most
outstan