t he told me I was sure I was
off the track of the Nussbaumer, but on the trail of a new and better
nut. He said the tree bore "sacks full" and the nuts were so thin
shelled you could crack them in your hand. I went farther down the river
to Fayetteville, not far from which place east the tree was located, but
was there informed the tree was dead. However, the informer told me he
had a seedling from it, but upon investigation found he had a fullblood
pecan, probably planted by a jaybird from a number of bearing trees in
close proximity, for I was satisfied by this time the nut was not even
part pecan. The two original nuts probably never grew. The innkeeper
advised me that Mr. Dintleman, a nurseryman of Belleville, Ill., had
been much interested in the nuts and might have a tree. So I wrote him
asking about it and also wrote Mr. C. A. Reed, U. S. Dept. of
Agriculture, Washington, D. C. Mr. Dintleman wrote me that our well
known Mr. J. F. Wilkinson, had a seven-year-old budded tree from buds he
sent. And Mr. Reed advised me to write a farm advisor in Missouri.
Through him I was informed a Mr. George Miller, near Bluffton, son of
Judge Miller, mentioned in Fuller's book, had a tree thirty years old.
In short, I found not only the one tree I was after but a second king
hickory and bitternut cross with a shell so thin you could "crack it
with your hands." Shall we call it a Hickbit? Mr. Wilkinson sent me
graftwood and stated he expected we call it the Dintleman. The
Nussbaumer, Mr. Miller informed me, is not a good bearer, but it may be
due to location or lack of pollinization. I now have several trees of
each from spring grafts.

All the above trees grow in overflow ground, sometimes in water for
weeks, called slashes. The Stabler walnut also seems to like that, but
the Thomas does not and is outgrown by the three-year-old Stablers. I
will know more about that in a year or two. However, nearly all grow
very well on the prairie land around here and some seem to bear better.

May I add another observation. Cultivation will produce bigger, better
and more nuts, same as for corn.

* * * * *

Evening session.

DR. DEMING:

I'd like to speak for a moment about some old friends, one of whom we
shall never see any more, Mr. Bixby. If you will take the trouble to go
back through our annual reports and see the number of articles he has
written and the diversity of subjects he has written on, and