igin. Any
variety which will yield heavy crops of nuts distinctly superior to the
average black walnut in cracking quality and kernel merit at a 42-degree
latitude plus, and a 2,000-foot altitude, should be potentially very
valuable in the northernmost zone.

WIARD--This is another Michigan variety, apparently of much merit. Vague
bits of information regarding it have reached the department at
Washington from time to time since June, 1926, when Greening Bros., of
Monroe, stated to the writer that Mr. Everett Wiard, a fruit grower near
the eastern outskirts of Ypsilanti, was grafting a promising seedling of
his own origin. This clue was not successfully followed up until 1932,
when a few specimen nuts were obtained. These were found to be of medium
size and of excellent cracking quality. The kernels were plump, bright,
rich in quality, and of pleasing flavor.

On February 12, 1934, Professor Neilson wrote the department that this
seedling had come to his attention during Farmers' Week, held shortly
before, at East Lansing. He stated that to him this appeared to be one
of the best seedlings thus far discovered and that he was recommending
it for propagation. He added that the nut was "of medium size, somewhat
diamond-shaped, thin-shelled, easy to crack and of excellent extractive
quality." Very likely more will be learned of this variety in the
future.

Butternut Varieties

The American butternut, Juglans cinerea, although commonly held to be a
slow grower, a tardy and light bearer, and a producer of thick-shelled
nuts hard or impossible to crack without extreme difficulty, is
frequently quite the opposite in one or more, or all, of these respects.
Under favorable environment the trees grow rapidly, bear early, and
oftentimes the nuts may be easily cracked and the kernels extracted in
perfect halves. Probably more than a dozen varieties from various
portions of the North have been named. A few of these appear to be of
considerable promise.

The northern range of the butternut extends from Nova Scotia over Maine,
across New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, the upper peninsula of
Michigan, and through Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota to South
Dakota south to Georgia and Arkansas.

Butternut flavor is preferred by many people to that of any other nut.
Throughout New England the kernels are used to no inconsiderable extent
in the making of highly pleasing food products. Oftentimes the ground
kernels are used in the