able. They are fully as hardy and satisfactory in
every other respect. The hickories that have proved to be fairly hardy
but have produced very few nuts are the Cedarapids and the Kirtland. The
Beaver hybrid hickory is probably next for nut production satisfaction,
grafts well on bitternut root but does not seem to have a long life. The
trees that I bought from your father nearly twenty years ago are now
dead although they lived to become large fine trees and bore in some
seasons very nice crops of nuts. The Fairbanks hickories, grafted some
seventeen or eighteen years ago, are still surviving, but bear very few
nuts, some seasons practically nothing at all. They very seldom ripen as
they mature very much later than the natives or the other varieties
mentioned above. I do not consider the Fairbanks a very edible nut
anyway as they become very rancid after a couple of months. The Beaver
is not a good keeper either. This is rather an important characteristic
in a nut and one in which the Weschcke excels, as in ordinary office
temperature it usually keeps two or three years. I believe that this is
partly due to the thin shell. My theory is that the thin shell expands
and contracts with heat and moisture conditions without cracking. This
prevents air from getting at the kernel, and since it is the oxygen
which is mostly responsible for rancidity, this exclusion of air
probably accounts for the fresh state that these nuts maintain for a
long time. I have noticed that thick-shelled shellbarks and, to a lesser
degree the shagbarks, crack open, in minute hairline cracks, and these
nuts which split like this invariably soon become rancid.

Now the black walnuts are next in order. For many years I considered the
Ohio a worthless variety. They would seldom mature any of the nuts, and
although they were regular bearers the thick hull was a nuisance. I have
had twenty years' experience with this variety and they are the hardiest
of all the old ones. They stand up very well and each year the nuts
become a little more satisfactory. Evidently the trees have the ability
to acclimatize themselves and they stand up better than Thomas, Stabler
or Ten Eyck of the old varieties that I have tested.

More recent varieties which I have tested and have proved satisfactory,
are the Paterson and the Rohwer; I recommend these two above all other
black walnuts. I have two seedlings which I am watching with a great
deal of interest. One is from Minne