W. Snyder, senior member of Snyder Bros., Inc., nurserymen at
Center Point, Iowa. The exact or even approximate year of discovery and
first propagation is not known to the writer, but a remark made by Mr.
Snyder during the 1930 convention, and passed on to him by Dr. Deming,
would indicate that grafts were made as early as 1914. It was, "a Cedar
Rapids shagbark grafted on a hickory (probably meaning shagbark), bore
in its third year and has borne every year since, but the same variety
grafted 16 years ago on a bitternut has not borne." In various comments
made by Mr. Snyder from time to time, especially in connection with the
Iowa meetings of the State Horticultural Society and of the Mid-West
Horticultural Exposition, he continued to rate this as one of the best
varieties within his acquaintance. There are a number of grafted trees
of this variety in various parts of the country, but very few yet in
bearing. The department at Washington has had no opportunity to test the
nuts in detail.

(There is also a variety of bitternut from Iowa known as Cedar Rapids,
but the two are quite unlike and should not be confused.)

COMINS--The original tree of the Comins shagbark hickory, awarded eighth
prize in the 1929 contest, is owned by Mrs. Nancy E. Comins, Amherst,
Hampshire County, Mass. This variety is probably worthy of further
investigation, although specimens of the 1929 crop examined at
Washington did not appear to as good advantage as did many others.

CREAGER--The Creager hickory is a supposed shagbark and bitternut hybrid
known since about 1925, when it was given a high rating, named,
propagated and disseminated to a limited extent by Snyder Bros., Inc.,
of Center Point, Iowa. It was called to their attention by Mr. W. O.
Creager, Sumner, Bremer County, Iowa, discoverer of the original tree.
The nuts are quite small, averaging in a test made in Washington of the
1930 crop 149 per pound. The yield of kernel was 30.27 per cent
quarters, 8.76 per cent small pieces, and the total 39.04 per cent. As
this test was made in February, 1932, the nuts were more than a year
old, and allowance should be made for this fact. The parent tree had
been cut down in the meantime and nuts were not obtainable later.

The shells of the nut are quite thin, easy to crack, and the kernels
fairly sweet. Like most others when their parentage involves a cross
with the bitternut, a distinct bitterness of flavor hangs over in the
mouth as an after